Love's Second Chance (Second Chances #1)(63)

“We’re here to crash your anniversary,” Brady joked, laughing.

I smiled. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Jenna whispered in my ear.

“They’re here because I invited them,” Galen admitted. “Since they introduced us in college, I thought it was fitting they were here on our anniversary.”

“Sounds good to me,” I agreed. “I can’t wait to see what they have here.”

“I hear they just got some new pieces in, too,” Brady informed us with a slight grin to his face.

Before I could ask what he was up to, Jenna took over. “Shall we go in?” she said, leading the way into the museum.

Galen grabbed my hand and we followed her. “Don’t we need to pay?” I asked as we walked past the admission desk. Jenna waved at the man behind the counter, who smiled and waved her through.

“No, I got it covered, Ducky.”

I squeezed her on the shoulder. “You didn’t have to do that, but it was really sweet of you. Thank you.”

She smiled at me, and then she and Brady took off in their own direction. I’m sure we would catch up with them later. As soon as we turned the corner, my eyes lit up in wonder. When you were an art fanatic like myself it was hard not to get chills when you saw it all before you, especially being at a museum you’d never been to before, and in this case I was shivering from the chills.

“Wow,” I whispered.

“Exactly,” Galen agreed. He liked art as well, but not as much as me. Galen held my hand as we made our way through the museum in silence. Nothing would ever beat our dinner date at the museum back home, but this one was one I would never forget either. Two hours passed by and we still weren’t done exploring the wonderment of the art. I would stay in those museums for hours if they would let me. “We have one exhibit left,” Galen said softly.

“It’s all been amazing. I don’t want to leave.” I sighed.

He laughed. “We can always come back, love. I’m sure once you see your surprise you’re going to want to come back here often.”

“What kind of surprise for me would be in an exhibit?”

“You’ll see.” He smiled handsomely at me.

We hurried to the last exhibit, and as soon as we entered into the room not only did the paintings look familiar, but one stuck out at me above the rest. It called to me, and I couldn’t take my eyes away from it. I walked toward it slowly, nothing existing except Galen, me, and that painting. The tears were building, and I let them fall without shame. The memory of that day captured on the canvas before me came rushing back full force.

“Oh my …” I cried.

The tears slowly drifted down my cheeks and I stared mesmerized at the two people in the painting. Galen came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he whispered softly in my ear.

I nodded ever so gently and placed my hand over my mouth to keep in the sob. “How?” I asked, lifting my gaze to his.

He smiled. “It was supposed to be an anniversary present to put up in our home, but—”

“But I screwed up and it ended up here.” Jenna sighed from behind me.

Galen smiled and cut in, “But when I found out they really wanted it here, I told Jenna to leave it.”

Jenna came up to me and explained, “Apparently, I had it stored with my paintings that were to be delivered here. The director called me and said she fell in love with your painting. I had no clue which one she was talking about until I realized I had misplaced yours and sent it here. I’m sorry, but you have to admit it looks good up there.”

I walked up as close as I could to the painting, aching to touch it. The golden plate underneath it had the words ‘Second Chances’ engraved on it. That right there had me bursting into tears. The painting was of me and Galen out in the meadow where we had our picnics back in college. It was a beautiful place, flowers as far as you could see and it was so quiet, so peaceful. We were always the only ones there when we went, and it became our haven, a place that only we shared together.

As I stared at the expressions on our faces in the painting, I could feel the emotions pouring out of it. We were sitting on the tailgate of Big Blue, each of us had one leg hanging off of the back while we faced each other, holding hands. It was the exact moment and the exact time when Galen first told me he loved me and I him. It was the same day we made love in the rain. Jenna even had the storm clouds rolling in on the painting. It was perfect … way beyond perfect.

“How did you capture it so well?” I asked her.

Jenna shook her head incredulously, “I may not have been there, but I remembered the way you looked when you two were together. It’s the same way you look at each other now. Also, your husband described that moment in full detail to me.”

Galen smiled down at me when I gazed up into his eyes. He whispered to me, “It was a moment I knew I would never forget.”

“And a moment I never forgot either,” I murmured softly back to him.

“I had Jenna call it ‘Second Chances.’ I thought it was fitting given our circumstances.” He paused to take my face in his hands, and I lifted mine to place over his, intertwining them. “I had a second chance at life, my love,” he cried softly.