The Guy Named Harrison: Book One

8

Harrison anxiously waited for practice to be over so he could go home with Carrie. He was beyond excited.

As he caught a pass and ran it for extra yards along the sidelines, he heard her interviewing one of the Panthers free agent pickups. He was a cornerback. And from what Harrison knew, he spoke only Spanish.

Carrie was interviewing him while speaking fluent Spanish. Was there anything this woman couldn't do?

It didn't help that the defense was practicing right next to where she was conducting her interview. Harrison could hear everything she said. She could speak to me in Spanish all day long, he thought. I wouldn't understand a word of it, but it sounds pretty damn good coming out of her mouth.

That was when she noticed him watching. "What are you looking at?"

Harrison looked away. Carrie took a break in her interview and was now watching him practice. "Say that in Spanish," he teased.

"¿Qué estás mirando?" Then she decided to tease him more. "¿Algo más que tengas que decir?"

"What was that?"

"Anything else you have to say?"

He bit his lip. "Nope."

"Vuelve a la práctica."

He didn't have to understand Spanish to know what that meant. Harrison playfully shook his head and focused back on practice.

❺❾

After practice, he met her outside the practice facility. "I didn't know you spoke Spanish."

Carrie smiled. "I speak French too."

"Let me hear it."

"Je t'aime."

"What was that?"

"I'm not telling you. You're going to have to figure it out yourself."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Please."

"Ne peut faire."

"How did you learn to speak all these languages?"

She laughed. "It's only three languages," she teased. "During the summers when I was in college, I had an internship with the Dodgers sideline reporter. And during games when we weren't doing a whole lot, I talked with the players. A lot of Major League Baseball players speak Spanish. When we were watching games, they would teach me Spanish and I'd teach them English. Then my mom took me to Paris for a family vacation and I realized I wanted to learn French too."

"Is there anything you can't do?"

They reached his truck. "I don't know."

Harrison loaded his things in the truck as she jumped in the front seat. Today he was taking her to his home. And she was going to meet Wilson.

When he jumped in the drivers seat, he desperately wanted to hear her say something else in Spanish or French. "Please?"

"Why?"

"Because it sounds so good coming from you."

"What is it, my accent?"