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“Can I come?”

“What?”

“Can I come?”

I know it’s a crazy ask. She doesn’t need my presence or help. Not for this.

“You’re that hard up, you want to come deliver meals with me?”

“Yeah. I am.”

“Marcus Delaney …” She doesn’t finish her thought. “Yeah. Okay. You can come. Be downstairs near guest parking. I’ll swing by and get you.

“On my way down now.”

She laughs lightly. I want to capture the sound in a Mason jar like Trey and I used to catch lightning bugs and watch them fill the glass with magic.

I’m so gone for her.

She snuck up on me.

I grab a coat, lock my condo, and head down to the parking lot. Cass pulls in a few minutes later. I pull open the passenger seat and slide in.

“Are you okay?” she asks, searching my face before she puts the car in reverse.

“I am now,” I say. “Thanks.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Mm hmm,” I say, “It’s bad.”

“Well, you just need to focus on your last win.”

“You think?”

“Yeah. Focus on what you did right. Think about how you’re going to play. But always picture getting what you want, not losing.”

I do as she says, picturing telling her how I feel and her saying something about how she can’t live without me. Then I laugh out loud. Cass would never say she can’t live without me. Not unless she’d just had her teeth pulled and she was still reeling from the laughing gas. I know she’s warmed up to me. She doesn’t hate me anymore. But not hating me is a far cry from wanting an actual relationship with me.

I am going to tell her I want to date her. Just, not yet. I'm in season. We've got Winona and Declan’s wedding coming up. I might have used that as an excuse to extend the charade, but I wasn't wrong. As soon as our season is over, they’re getting married. They deserve to have their moment. Then I'll tell Cass how I feel—as soon as they take off for their honeymoon.

And if she doesn't feel the same way, I'll have to let her go.

“Eye on the ball, Delaney. Football’s not funny,” she says, turning out of the neighborhood and onto a road that leads out of town. “Especially not this late in the season.”

“Yeah. No,” I agree. “You’re right.”

If only she knew.

“This family,” she says. “Just lived through a house fire. Hallie told me about them. They’re staying in a friend’s back house. They’re pretty shaken up. I’m bringing them some school supplies we had left over from the drive, a meal, and some donated clothes. Then I’m going to get a feel for what else they need.”

“How can I help?” I ask.

“Just don’t be so …” she takes her hand off the steering wheel and gestures it up and down from my head to my waist and back.

“So?”

“So … Marcus Delaney, star quarterback.”