The Guy Named Harrison: Book Two

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Harrison, Carrie, and Riley brought pizza over to Luke's house for dinner. Luke's parents and Shannon had all flown in this morning while Harrison and Luke were at their team meetings.

With Riley in one hand, Carrie cut slices of pepperoni pizza and dished it out on plates. Little Riley wanted the pizza. But she wasn't old enough to start eating solid foods yet. By mid November, her mommy was ready to give solid foods a go as well. That way she didn't have to breastfeed any longer.

"You want me to take her?"

Carrie spun around to see Mrs. Kuechly standing behind her. "Go ahead and eat. I got her."

Eileen totally ignored Carrie and stole Riley from her. "Are you hungry Riley? Did your mommy bring you some food."

"It's in the bag over there," Carrie replied, pointing to the kitchen table where Riley's bag of supplies sat. "Thank you so much."

"You don't need to thank me. I really hope Luke, John, or Henry had kids soon. I've been waiting."

"Well, you're certainly welcome to watch Riley anytime you like."

Eileen grabbed Riley's bib from her bag and milk from the fridge. "You want Aunt Eileen to feed you?" She asked as Riley immediately reached for the bottle. "We're going to give your mommy a break."

Carrie grabbed herself a piece of pizza and joined her husband, Luke, Shannon, and Tom in the living room. Harrison was in the middle of asking Luke, "what did they say?" when Carrie sat down.

"They didn't give me a for sure answer for either option. Obviously, my history of concussions was a big factor in all of it. But they said that this concussion wasn't as severe as the first two."

"That's good."

"It is. They did highlight the risks too. I'm even more prone to concussions than I was before. Not just a shot to the head, but even a normal hit is risky for me now."

"What did they say was the most serious long term health risk?" Harrison asked.

"Well, now that I'm very prone to concussions, ALS is on the table as a long term health risk too, as well as CTE," Luke answered.

"What path are you thinking about taking?"

Luke took a deep breath. "I want to play again. At the same time, I want to be here for my family. I don't want my health to jeopardize my time with my family after football. I want to be a dad, and a grandpa. I want to be around to see my kids and grandkids grow up."

Harrison and Carrie were expecting him to say, 'I'm done,' next.

"I decided I'm going to play through the end of my contract, if I don't get another concussion or head injury. If something else happens, I'm going to have to be done because my family is way more important to me than football. Hopefully we'll have another two Super Bowls so I can just ride off into the sunset. If I don't have any more head injuries by the time my contract expires in two years, I'll consider playing more if everything's still okay in my head."

Luke's decision was so much similar to Harrison's a year ago. He'd been so lucky. The helmet and collar had been working, so retirement hadn't been on his mind since the concussion last season.

They all had finished their pizza when Eileen came in the living room with Riley who was already reaching for Luke. He took Riley and sat her on his lap. "How ya doing Riley?"

She was beaming from ear to ear when he said her name. Riley was beginning to learn her name and was right now learning it from Luke the best. "You want to know something cool? Your middle name is August just like mine."

Little Riley clapped her hands together, something Harrison and Carrie learned she did when she was happy. Then Luke turned to her and Harrison. "Did you really name her after me?"

They both nodded. "We had a bunch of different middle names picked out and Riley August sounded the best out of all of them."

Before I could leave school today, my friend stopped me and showed me this scratch in the back door of her car from this frickin idiot that doesn't know how to park a car. At all. And I'm so mad about it because that very same car has parked next to me before and I've noticed dings or scratches AFTER they parked next to me. I think I've gotten 3 or 4 dings and scratches this year already.

This would be why.

How the heck can you open your door parked like that without hitting another car? The car to the left is my friends, but I'm even farther away from the white line than she is. It's to the point where I can't even open my back door to throw my bag in like I usually do. I really want to stay later and sucker punch whoever the hell drives that car. I'm pretty pissed over how much I've spent this year in scratch doctor to get the scratches out.

We've tried parking in a different spots before but that cars always finds a way to park next to us. My friend and I are thinking about putting a note on their windshield. Or like my dad said, let out all the air in their tires. I really want to do that one😂 Anyway this person is driving me crazy!!!