The Guy Named Harrison: Book Two

42

Harrison got home really late following the game. Coach Rivera's speech after the game was a huge reason why. As soon as he told his team, 'we expected this,' the locker room went berserk. It felt like they'd just won the Super Bowl. But really they'd just crushed their division rivals to open the season.

Carrie was already out when he got home, meaning Riley was too. Before going to bed himself, Harrison went to check on his daughter. He slowly opened her door, making sure he didn't wake her up and slipped inside.

Little Riley was sound asleep beside her Panthers pillow. She was so adorable. She looked just like her mommy while sleeping. Her mouth was open just a little bit, and her head was turned to the side.

Harrison fixed her blanket before giving her a gentle kiss. He left the room and wandered back down the hallway to his room. Wilson jumped off the bed as soon as the door swung open. He ran over and almost slammed into the door as he came to a stop.

"Easy buddy. I'm here all the time."

He knelt down to try and calm his dog before he ended up waking Carrie, or even worse, Riley. "Okay, you got to say hello."

Wilson laid down on the floor with a thud and demanded Harrison rub his belly. If it would calm him down, Harrison was going to do it. He didn't need Wilson to wake up Riley at midnight.

Once Wilson settled down, Harrison was able to make his way over to his dresser and change into a new pair of clothes. Those included a white Nike t-shirt, and Panthers shorts. Then slowly, he crawled into bed beside Carrie.

She had her head and arms wrapped around a pillow that was substituted for him. Slowly, Harrison wiggled the pillow out of her grasp and tossed it on the floor.

"We don't need that anymore," he muttered.

He made himself comfy at Carrie's side. Harrison wrapped her arms around him, and worked his way close to her body to allow her to rest her head on his shoulder, just as she had been doing with the pillow. Unfortunately, she woke up.

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine," she whispered, making herself more comfortable against him. "What took you so long?"

"The locker room broke into chaos after Coach's speech. Then I took an ice bath."

"You took an ice bath? What's wrong with you?"

Harrison put his hand on her hip. "I'm just sore. That's all. Today was a lot for me considering that I played 3 snaps in the preseason. And I did double the workload today. I got a ton of snaps on offense."

He was right. Harrison hadn't played as hard as he did today since the Super Bowl. And that was because he was so limited in practice and the preseason.

"22 tackles today. That's gotta be a record."

"It's not. Luke has the record with 24."

"Luke's ahead of you? You better step it up."

He laughed. "I'll try."

Carrie put her arm around his back and pulled him to her. She slipped her fingers under the hem of his shirt and wrapped her right leg around his.

"I have to get up early tomorrow."

"Tough."

He was now on his back as she pulled his Nike t-shirt over his head. "I thought you said this wasn't going to happen ever again?"

"I take it back," she quickly answered as his fingers slipped under her shirt.

Harrison flipped her over so she lay on her back. "I'm not complaining."