The Guy Named Harrison: Book Two

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Harrison didn't wake Carrie up for her two hour shift. He did a few walks around the house after she'd fallen asleep to make sure nothing serious had happened to the house during the night. So far, the boards were holding up and they hadn't experienced a power outage yet.

That wasn't going to last much longer. The eye of Hurricane Katia was due to slam Charlotte tonight. The local news was calling for minor flooding throughout the city. Harrison wasn't concerned about it. Charlotte was pretty far from the coast. And the house was on higher elevation, making flooding near impossible.

Harrison came downstairs to breakfast being made by their four guests. "Good morning Harrison."

"Morning Debbie," he answered, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Although they were riding out a hurricane, he slept well last night after covering Carrie's shift and handing it off to Todd.

"Where's Carrie?"

"She's still sleeping. She had some bad cramps last night. Said they were the worst she'd ever felt."

Harrison picked up on the nervous eye contact made between Shannon and Debbie. "I'm going to go check on her," Shannon said suddenly and headed up the stairs.

That was odd. What could be wrong with Carrie? But Harrison pushed the thought aside. Shannon was studying to be a nurse and was probably going to help Carrie with the cramps.

Harrison helped himself to the bacon and eggs that Debbie cooked. It might be their last cooked meal for a while, depending on when the power went out, and how long it was out for.

He sat down at the kitchen table and stuffed his face. Harrison was hungry. They'd eaten a light dinner last night, fearing the storm would knock out power in the middle of the night. But certainly the six of them would take a full, cooked meal, as long as they could.

"Debbie, this is amazing."

"Thank you Harrison."

Luke came and sat beside him with a plate. "What do you think's going to happen next weekend?"

Next weekend, the Panthers were scheduled to head to Los Angeles to play the Chargers in their fourth preseason game. "I don't think we'll be going. Our first priority after this damn thing blows over is to make sure everyone that rode out the storm is doing okay. I'm sure you and I will be making multiple trips to costal cites that have been absolutely demolished."

Last season when both Hurricane Irma, and Hurricane Harvey hit the southern United States, the Panthers opened up their facilities for the four teams affected, as did the Titans. They even offered to allow the Dolphins to play a home game at Bank of America Stadium, but they decided to take the bye. Following the coming weekend, the Panthers opened the season on Thursday at home. Right now, who knew how much damage this hurricane had already caused and there would be no telling if they would be able to play. First came the safety of all the people affected by the storm. The Panthers would definitely be donating money to help out those who lost everything.

There was a loud bang. Everyone looked at each other as the lights went out and they sat together eating breakfast in complete darkness.

"Harrison?"

It was Carrie calling him. He reached behind his chair and onto the counter to find a lantern. Getting up, he made his way upstairs to Carrie standing at the top of the steps.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just don't want to fall down the stairs."

He took her hand in his and slowly led her down the stairs as Shannon followed. As they walked back into the kitchen, Todd and Luke already had several other lanterns and flashlights set up.

He quickly turned around to face Shannon. "Is Carrie okay?"

"She told me the cramps are worse now than they were last night. And that they come and go. I'm starting to think she's having contractions."

➄➈

That night, they got hit by the worst part of the hurricane. Again, Harrison did his rounds around the house before heading upstairs for bed. Luke had first shift tonight, followed by Shannon.

It was cold in the house. And Harrison was quite glad. They kept the air conditioning down very low until the power went out. Instead of being even hotter, the house would gradually warm up.

He heard Carrie's cries before he was even upstairs. After talking to Shannon earlier, she said it was normal for a pregnant woman to start having contractions several weeks before she was due. Though it really pained Harrison that he couldn't do anything for her. She was going to be out of medicine by tomorrow morning and it wasn't like he could go out and get her more.

Harrison laid down beside her. She was sweating profusely and she wasn't even under the covers. Her cries were painful not just to her, but to him as well.

"Carrie?"

"I can't do this anymore Harrison," she quickly gasped before crying out in pain again.

He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "You gotta push through it. I know you can do it, you have to know you can do it."

She leaned her head back against her pillow and muffled her cries with another.

➄➈

Harrison had just finished his shift and had only been asleep for a few minutes when Carrie punched him in the gut.

"What the hell was that for?"

"Get up," she groaned.

"Why? It's the middle of the night?"

Carrie screamed in pain. "Because my damn water just broke!"

Oh boy😱

I made a new cover for this book and I'm really loving it lol😂