At one point in the tour, they rode on a metal slide down through the mountain. She sat down behind Chase, and he didn’t question it. She was growing comfortable with his touch, but she wasn’t ready to be surrounded by him.
They whooshed down the slide, laughing.
There was an underground lake at the bottom of the slide, picturesque, with even more information. At the end of the tour, they rode a ‘train’ out.
The tour finished with them being gifted salt and Chase tipping their tour guide. She found herself wondering how much money Brandon was gifting to him. A hundred thousand dollars like she was receiving? Was that the main reason Chase was with her in Austria? Not that she blamed him for coming for the money. It was a valid reason for an accomplished Army Ranger and police officer to spend two weeks with some woman he didn’t know in Europe. Still, there was a tingle of discomfort thinking about Darren tricking her into loving him so he could be gifted money.
Chase would never do that.
They walked out of the salt mine and into the sunshine of a gorgeous June day. It was probably about seventy. She quickly shed her jacket and wrapped it around her waist. Walking down to the sky bridges, she marveled at the glass bridges. It wasa little trippy looking down hundreds of feet with nothing but glass to keep them safe, but worth it for how beautiful the views of the town, lake, valley, and mountains were. Chase posed for various selfies with her. Tony offered to take their photo as if he were another tourist passing by. It was cute of the huge security guard.
They walked down to town and along the ‘panorama trail’ above Hallstatt that gave them more beautiful views and a slow, easy walk ending at a Catholic church. The church was absolutely fascinating, dating back to the twelve-hundreds. The picturesque interior and the information about the history of the church and the local leadership throughout the generations enthralled Lizzy.
Chase patiently followed her around as she used Google translate on her phone at each inscription in the floor or the walls and every poster. The inscriptions were in Latin and the posters in German, but she was able to understand and share quite a bit of it with Chase.
Her favorite parts were the stained-glass windows and the incredible cemetery adjacent to the church. Each grave was its own small flower garden. She’d never seen anything so charming in her life. Many of the graves were shared with generations of family. Chase agreed it was a great cemetery, much better than at home.
Lizzy could hardly imagine growing up in such a scenic spot, a small and gorgeous mountain town, with all the history of ancestors and generations of family surrounding her. It made her heart long for connections like this. It was just her and her mom. Her grandmother was still alive but in a long-term care facility with Alzheimer’s. She needed to ask her mom about her ancestors. Maybe do some research. That might help her feel more rooted.
Lizzy’s legs were tiring as they walked down to the town center, but she didn’t want Chase to know. She didn’t want to miss out on a minute.
They ate lunch at Zum Bader Gastwirschaft. She couldn’t pronounce the name, but the waitress was kind and her salad and filet of fish were delicious. Chase ate a meat platter that would’ve settled in her gut like a rock.
Happily, there was a gelato stand right outside the restaurant. She chose the Kinder bar gelato and Chase got stracciatella which looked like chocolate chip.
Lizzy slowly licked the delicious chocolate cookie gelato as they perused the town square and centuries-old buildings—restaurants, hotels, boutiques, a water feature, and more. She adored each shop. Of course Chase smiled when she said that. His smile didn’t look annoyed or even indulgent. It was as if he really enjoyed the way she expressed herself.
Walking down to the waterfront where boats and tours were coming and going, they sat side by side on a bench. The teal-blue water sparkled in the sun and boats were everywhere. Some were huge tour boats, but others were small, romantic boats for two. Hopefully one of their days would be on the water.
After she finished her last crunch of the waffle cone, Lizzy determined she was ready to hike to the waterfall. Maybe her legs wouldn’t get too tired. She was feeling great right now.
“All right. Madelyne sent me the directions and photos of the Waldbachstrub Waterfall,” Chase said. “It looks incredible.”
He clicked on his phone. Lizzy stared at his sculpted brow as he looked down. It blew her mind how comfortable she was with him. Was it all going to come crashing down like the other men she’d dated and her own dad? Each of those men had been kind and charming but had eventually shown themselves to be belittlers and abusers. She’d rarely seen her dad charming, but her mom swore he used to be.
She couldn’t imagine a world where Chase had those tendencies, but she had seen smiling, attractive faces be peeled off like a mask and monsters climb out.
Chase glanced up and turned toward her on the bench. She instinctively stiffened. Would he ‘suggest’ they should only have gelato this one time so she didn’t gain weight? Or say something even more demeaning about how he was embarrassed when he noticed her limping on the tour? That wasn’t the Chase she’d known so far, but she was conditioned to expect that.
“How are your legs feeling?” he asked.
“My … my legs?” She looked down at her own legs, then back up at him. Was he embarrassed? Had he noticed her limping? “They are actually feeling pretty good.”
He pocketed his phone and met her gaze again. “You’re feeling up for another long, slow walk like last night?”
“With a gorgeous waterfall at the end? Yes, sir.”
“There’s some incline on the route, but we’ll take it slow.”
“All right.” She swallowed and managed, “Thank you for asking about my legs.”
Other men had been annoyed by her halting gait or the ‘weird’ way her knees and toes turned inward, but never concerned about how she was feeling or assuring her that she could accomplish something hard even if they had to take it slow.
“Of course.” He nodded, his blue eyes serious, as if he sensed that he’d touched her.
She really wanted to say ‘thank you for caring’. Thoughtful. Chase was thoughtful, and she wasn’t used to that. Even though her past boyfriends could be syrupy sweet to get what they wanted, they’d never been thoughtful or considerate. They’d either been annoyed by her disability because it slowed them down or they’d treated her like she couldn’t make any decisions or take care of herself.
They stood and walked back to the car. Lizzy didn’t want to carry her jacket or her small bag but wasn’t ready to leave them behind either. What if she got cold or needed lip gloss?
