Page 158 of Tangled with the Tight End

Not only mine. Declan’s brows raise and Jaxon’s expression is dumbfounded.

“Oh yeah,” Cass says, her usual sassy, spirited demeanor obviously revived from temporary dormancy. “Quarterbacks think twice about throwing into his third of the field."

Jaxon finds his voice. “You know my stats.”

“Of course, I know your stats,” Cass says.

“Wow.” Jaxon shakes his head. “I’m honored.”

I lean back into Declan and he whispers into my hair. “That was impressive.”

I tip my head and glance up at him. “Right?”

Declan’s phone shows the front gate sliding open.

I jump up from the couch. “Patrick and Daisy are here.”

Cass looks at Jaxon. “Sorry about all that.”

“Are you kidding me?” he says. “People barely recognize me if I’m not wearing my jersey. I’m not the QB. I’m not a linebacker. The way you rattled off my stats? I’ll be replaying that moment for a while.”

I’m already in the foyer when I hear Cass answer Jaxon. “You can replay it,” she says. “As long as you delete ninety percent of what went on before that.”

Jaxon says, “Consider it done.”

I open the door to Daisy and Patrick. He’s holding a casserole dish.

“Hot spinach artichoke dip!” he announces.

Daisy steps in and wraps me in a hug.

I have this moment where I imagine this as my actual life—Declan and I sharing a home—not necessarily his childhood mansion, but somewhere—friends coming over on a Sunday afternoon to watch a game. Us all hanging out, eating snacks and laughing. Cass hopefully containing herself.

Only, Declan won’t be watching games during the seasons to come. He’ll be in them—with the exception of his bye week every year.

Still, the feeling lingers—this persistently hopeful feeling that Declan and I could last, and our worlds could mesh in a really beautiful way.

Patrick follows Daisy into the house.

“You can put that in the kitchen. The island has enough food to feed the team.”

“You’re at home here,” Daisy whispers.

“Funny, I just had that same thought,” I say, conspiratorially. “Maybe one day. It’s still new.”

I leave Patrick and Daisy to set the dip in the kitchen and return to my spot on the couch, comfortably nestled in Declan’s loose embrace. The sports analysis is still going on, but the game’s about to start.

“How’s that coming along?” Patrick asks Declan, pointing to his ankle.

“If all goes well, I’ll get the cast off in two to three weeks,” Declan says, beaming and giving my arm a squeeze.

What will it be like then? Will football take over his life?

Daisy and Patrick take the love seat and the game starts. With the exception of commercials and halftime, no one talks about anything. The only noises are our cheers and shouts at the television.

After the game, everyone leaves, and I linger, helping Declan to clean up.

“You know what I was thinking during the game?” Declan asks, swinging up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist while I rinse the last of the dishes.