Chapter 18
CARLO
“Are you ever going to tell me where you’re taking me?
” Tania asks, a jokingly accusatory tone in her voice.
It’s finally Saturday and we both have off, so I’ve planned a surprise date day for us.
After her emotional day on Tuesday, I wanted us to go out and have some fun today.
She seems so intrigued by what I have planned, but is also starting to get adorably antsy about not knowing what it is.
Keeping her in anticipation is so much fun.
“Nope. If you can’t figure it out then you’ll be surprised.”
“Tell me!” She gives me her big pleading eyes when I look over at her, and I’m done. I’ve discovered I’m incapable of not giving her anything she wants, so I instantly cave with a defeated sigh.
“Remember the other day you mentioned you had never been to Grounds for Sculpture and were dying to see it?” Her smile becomes so completely luminous when I glance again at her that I have to fight to look back at the road so we don’t have an accident.
“We’re going to Grounds for Sculpture?” She lets out the cutest little happy squeak, and I can’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm.
“See how well I listen when you talk? We can walk around outside to see all of the permanent sculptures throughout the grounds, and then they have a new artist installation of portrait sketches as a temporary exhibit inside that I think you’ll like.
” It’s a perfect day for it, since the sun is out but mostly hiding behind the clouds, and the temperature is warm enough for us both to be in t-shirts with our jeans.
Her hair is back in the swinging ponytail I love so much, her eyes shine so brightly with excitement, and her lips look dangerously kissable with the glossy color she put on.
“Your listening skills are top notch,” she says with a laugh as she threads her fingers through mine on the center console, bringing my hand to her mouth to kiss the back of it. “I’m so excited. Have you ever been there?”
“I remember my family all went around Christmas one year, they do a really festive display of lights and decorations. It’s been so long though, I’m sure a ton has changed.
” She nods, bopping happily to the pop song playing on the radio.
Her whole energy has been so much more hopeful and happy lately, the letter from her mom was transformative.
I know it helped answer some of her almost life long questions since she didn’t know much about her family.
It grounded her more into who she is and where she came from.
The letter also gave her closure, a gorgeous goodbye from her mom that she didn’t get to have when her mom passed.
Tania’s strength never fails to astound me.
She’s talked bravely and vulnerably about how she’s not healed, but she’s healing, and Tuesday was a huge step.
It doesn’t take us that long to get to Grounds for Sculpture.
We both start laughing at ourselves because on the street leading up to the entrance, it looks like actual people dancing on the side of the road or posing, fooling us completely at first. That’s how realistic the sculptures look.
I pull up to the ticket booth and the attendant scans them before lifting the gate to let us into the parking lot.
We go into the visitor’s center to get a map and then walk out into the mild April air.
It’s a perfect day, the sun shining brightly with fluffy clouds dotting the sky.
A light breeze carried the scent of newly blooming flowers.
The grounds are lush, and we walk around like kids in a candy store.
Many of the sculptures are life sized, so Tania hams it up with a couple dancing, acting like she’s trying to cut in with the man.
I sit on a bench next to a sculpture of a woman reading that looks so real I did a double take.
We marvel at the enormous statue of the three witches from Macbeth, complete with a cauldron spilling over.
The time, effort, and talent it takes to create these masterpieces is mind blowing.
Tania is giddy when she spots a couple of peacocks strutting around the grounds.
My personal favorite has to be the tableau of a dinner party, with everyone’s expressions so animated and true to life.
Tania snaps a picture of me pretending I’m laughing it up with one of the dinner party guests, arm around him and everything.
I snap a picture of her sliding into a space in the sculpture of people lined up for bread during The Depression.
We eventually sit to eat a burger for lunch at the restaurant on site called Rat’s, out on the terrace.
It overlooks an enormous sculpted head in the lagoon of water, shrouded in mist like it’s in the clouds in some high up mountain lake. It’s all so peaceful and beautiful.
“This truffle aioli on the burger is outstanding,” Tania raves before she takes another unabashedly big bite. She softly moans after that next bite, and yeah, hearing that makes my body do things it should absolutely not be doing in a public place with kids around. I lean in and whisper in her ear.
“There you go, killing me again. May I remind you this is a family friendly place, ma’am.” She giggles.
“Not my fault you can’t handle me enjoying my food, baby,” she whispers back.
She just had to throw in that husky little endearment at the end and kill me further.
We might need to leave sooner than I originally wanted to so we can spend the rest of our day off in bed together.
No, nope, I’m a grown man who can wait until tonight.
We haven’t even gone inside yet to see the temporary portraits exhibit.
So I try to calm my body down by thinking of baseball and football stats.
We finish up our lunch and walk inside hand in hand.
The portrait exhibit takes up the entire first floor of the building, and we both find ourselves completely immersed in the beauty.
Faces of all types fill the space with black and white portraits on canvas that are so poignant I hear Tania’s breath catch.
We start making our way around the room beginning at the wall nearest the entrance, taking in the first few portraits in the series.
“I love the way he captures expressions. Like this woman, she looks serious but he managed to capture a mischievous glint in her eyes.” I see what she means.
The way her eyes are slightly crinkled is a contrast to how serious the rest of her face looks.
Then she moves down to the next one. “This man’s smile is so brittle, like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
You can feel it through the canvas.” I point out one that catches my eye.
“In this one she outwardly seems serene and she’s smiling gently, but look at the steel in her gaze.
She’s fierce underneath that gentle exterior.
He’s amazing at storytelling through their faces.
” She nods emphatically, gripping my arm in excitement.
She eagerly points out how he’s able to do different jawlines so flawlessly, and how hard noses can be to sketch.
“Have you sketched a lot of portraits?” I ask her.
“A few in the art classes I’ve managed to take. They’re not my strongest suit, but I love them. I love how well they capture a person’s essence in a single moment if they’re done right, like a time capsule of what the person was feeling at the time. These are amazing time capsules.”
Seeing this passion in her about art makes me completely melt.
The way her eyes are lit up, her cheeks flushed with excitement as she keeps up a steady stream of insightful commentary about each portrait.
I love that we have this in common and I can give my own commentary to keep the conversation going.
I’m falling hard for her, I realize. Those three little words are on the tip of my tongue as she grabs my hand to go to the portraits on the far wall.
I’ve been a goner for her since I first saw her, completely done in by how beautiful she is and funny and kind.
Slowly getting to know her hidden depths, her history, her little quirks, the exact way she likes her eggs in the morning, what shampoo she uses, the adorable way she loves the cats, my feelings have deepened to a point that almost scares me because I’ve never experienced it before.
Maybe I was immediately so drawn to her because the deepest part of my heart already knew what the rest of me didn’t.
She’s it for me. I can only hope that she’ll feel the same about me, even though I know she probably needs more time to get there.
Since it’s so nice out, we go back out into the grounds to walk around some more.
We meander down a path we haven’t gone on before and find ourselves at a warming hut.
It’s an adorable little shack in the middle of the trees that people can duck into in order to get out of the cold if they’re walking around in the winter.
I pull her in with me, and it’s blessedly empty when I shut the door behind us.
Her eyes meet mine, and I can see by the spark that lights in them that she’s reading my thoughts.
I’m pressing her into the wall in the next breath, my hands diving into her hair, her arms looping around my neck, our mouths fusing.
Obviously we can’t go beyond making out for a couple of stolen minutes but I need my hands and lips on her so badly it hurts.
With the way she’s kissing me back, she seems to feel the same way.
Our tongues clash, and I lightly nip her lower lip before going down her jaw to her neck.
We make out for a few minutes in this cozy little hut and it’s nirvana as she rakes her hands through my hair, while I cup her ass to bring her impossibly closer.
When we pull back to breathe, I’m struck dumb by how luminous and happy her face is when she looks up at me.