Page 162 of Tangled with the Tight End

I focus on my body, putting Winona out of my mind as best as I can. She’s still there, though. Her smile. The way she feels in my arms. Her outlook on life. The way she makes me laugh.

Mac taps my pecs and then my delts. “Are you smiling over these or these? Because whatever else might have you smiling like that is not going to prepare you to be back on the line. And it sure won’t win you a Super Bowl.”

He’s doing his job. And he’s not wrong.

“Don’t my pecs make you smile, Mac?” I tease.

“Your pecs pay for my house. Now let’s get them back in game-ready shape.”

We finish my workout over an hour later, moving through pull-ups, shoulder presses, modified squats and a full core workout.

“You’ve got one job right now, Declan,” Mac says before he releases me to the treatment room. “Focus on rebuilding your strength. And don’t do anything foolish. You’re about to be back full-time. You can’t afford any distractions.”

I know he’s right. If I don’t put my all into recovery at this stage of the process, I won’t be ready when I’m back on the field.

They’ve got me coming in four days a week to the facility now—an extra day of workouts and treatments. That one day somehow manages to make it feel like I’m practically living here.

“We’re playing the Falcons this weekend,” Winona says when she picks me up a few hours after my workout with Mac.

“We are,” I say, smiling over at her.

“What?”

“You said we.”

“Is that wrong?”

“No. It’s so right. I really don’t have words for how right it is.”

She smiles. “You know what?”

“What?”

“You’re a romantic, Declan.”

“For you, I am.”

I wag my brows at her playfully, grateful tomorrow’s Saturday. I’ll have a whole day with her.

She smiles a smile that makes her eyes practically sparkle. “I would have never pegged you as a romantic.”

“Why not?”

She pins me with a side-eye, her brows raised, and adds a playful grin.

“Okay. I get it. I’m reserved and intense.”

“To be fair,” she says. “We met when you had just found out you were out for most of the season.”

“I would have spiraled into a depression if it weren’t for you.”

“What?” She looks baffled.

“You have to know that.”

“No.” Her eyes narrow and her brows draw in. She’s focused on the road, but I can tell she’s scrolling through memories. “You were withdrawn. That’s natural.”

“You came in like a ray of sunshine.”