Your Chance

Chapter 4

"Hurry up! Your parents are gonna be here soon!"

"I'm almost done!"

Harrison turned back to the grill with a grimace. The burgers still needed to be cooked on the other side.

"Carrie!"

She turned, seeing her parents making their way outside. "Hi mom," she said, giving her mom a hug. She turned to her father," hi dad."

"Todd coming?"

"No sweetie he had to work."

"Well take some leftovers for him," she said, running back into the house to grab a tablecloth.

Carrie's father came up behind Harrison, punching him lightly in the shoulder. "Hello Mr. Fisher."

"Hello son. How ya doing?"

"Couldn't be better. Yourself?"

"Good. Taking good care of my daughter?"

Harrison smiled. "Yes sir."

Carrie came back out with the tablecloth and salad. "Here," she muttered, shoving the salad into his hands as she set the table.

The kids came running around the house, who were immediately stopped by crushing hugs from Carrie's mom.

Just then, Harrison's parents came out back. He flipped the burgers before greeting his parents. "Harrison!"

"Hello mom," he said, giving her a hug.

"I brought ice cream for dessert."

"Oh boy, with the cake Carrie bought and your ice cream, Adam's gonna have to run a few miles to stay in shape."

"He's gonna be just fine," she pushed by him and he laughed.

Dinner went by rather quickly, and dessert twice as fast. By the time everyone was done eating, Adam had 2 pieces of cake and Emma had more on her face than she actually ate.

Carrie picked up Emma, before she was taken by her mom. "You relax, I got her."

She leaned back in her chair, a sigh of relief. Harrison's mom nudged her shoulder. "How's teaching going?"

"Well I start Monday, but I've got everything prepared. Tonight Harrison and I are going to start one of his lessons."

"Make him work."

Carrie laughed, looking at her husband across the table. "Don't worry I will."

Harrison took a drink of his wine. "I read you declined a big offer from the Cowboys," a voice said from beside him.

He turned, seeing Carrie's dad. "Yes I did."

"Why? You've got a couple years left."

"Yeah but I'm going to be watching Emma when Carrie starts work and Adam starts kindergarten. Plus Carrie and I were thinking about having another kid."

Her dad nodded. "I see."

"Carrie and the kids are more important to me than football."

"Good man."

"Daddy! Can I show grandma and grandpa me catching the football?"

"Sure buddy, go grab a football."

Adam came back, carrying his favorite football. He tossed it to Harrison and went to line up on the pretend line of scrimmage. "Go!"

Adam took off down the backyard. Harrison moved, avoiding a fake defender before launching the ball as far as he could. Adam jumped, catching the ball as he twisted in midair.

He brought the ball back, everyone at the table clapping. "Again daddy!" And so he threw Adam another pass.

"He's going to be a receiver."

Harrison turned to Carrie's dad. "Oh yeah, I can see it already. He's fast, has good ball control, and good hand eye coordination."

Catching the ball from his son again, he said, "although he might turn out to be a middle linebacker like his dad."

•••

Harrison came downstairs after putting his kids to bed. Carrie sat at the kitchen table waiting for him with a binder and papers spewed everywhere.

"What's all this?" He asked, joining her at the table.

"Day one of your education," she answered, putting a paper and pen in front of him. "Try this. See what you remember."

He simply stared at her. "Stop it," she said, unable to help the smile breaking out.

"Come on, try it."

"Alright professor," he teased, seeing her wearing her glasses instead of her contacts.

"Do I need to go put my contacts back in?"

"No, but I do really like the glasses look."

She stood up. "Start on this, I'll be back."

Harrison tried the first two problems before giving up. Carrie came back downstairs, now wearing her contacts. He pushed the paper over to her.

"Did you give up or is this the farthest you got?"

"First one."

She rolled her eyes. "This was your idea. I told you I would teach you if you really wanted to learn."

"Just check it."

She looked at the paper. "Hmm."

"What?"

"These first two are both correct. Not the ideal way to solve the problem, but it works. Good job," she said, giving him a fist bump.

Carrie scribbled out another problem, and made him try this one.

"I'm impressed. This isn't even taught in calculus. And I know calculus was the last math you took in high school."

"I always impress you huh?"

She shuffled through the papers, finding another one for him to do. "Come on sweetheart."

She slid the paper over. "Impress me even more."

To her surprise, he got all the problems on the second page right as well. "Maybe I should try your class sweetheart."

Carrie laughed. "Don't get ahead of yourself. My class would kick your ass."

"It probably would, but I happen to have the best teacher."

"Its professor to you."

"Alright professor, would you like to teach me a lesson upstairs?"

"Your first lesson is going to be college algebra," she said, giving him a blank sheet of paper. "Do take notes."