They soared into the air not five minutes later. She gripped the hand rests, and her stomach lifted as she cried out, “Ooh!” which made the men smile.
They reached altitude quickly and Tony explained that they wouldn’t have a flight attendant, but she was welcome to anyfood or drinks she would like. He led her to the back of the plane. She oohed and ahhed over all the options, finally grabbing small bags of trail mix, Swedish fish, and Skinny Pop popcorn and a water and declaring she was ready for the movie. Elijah figured out how to cueThe Sound of Musicfor her. Surprisingly, most of the men seemed to pay attention to the movie, at least looking up from their phones and smiling when she sang along or laughed out loud.
Lizzy relaxed, and her excitement grew as she watched her favorite movie. “Oh, I hope I can go there,” she kept exclaiming, and one of the men would nod and sometimes murmur, “I hope you can.” They were being very kind, and she appreciated the distraction from worrying about some unknown guy she was going to spend two weeks with.
After the movie, she ate a delicious dinner, then they dimmed the lights and Elijah showed her how to lay the recliner down flat like a bed. She was able to sleep, which was a pleasant surprise and made her realize she was trusting these men.
When she awoke, they were all eating again. She ate part of a breakfast burrito and half of an acai bowl. Her stomach hurt as she’d done nothing but sleep after eating last night and she wasn’t hungry. She was getting more nervous about meeting her match for this week, and she always ate too much when she was nervous. If only she had asked Brandon, Madelyne, and Rockwell why she had to be partnered with this friend of theirs. She could’ve brought her mom or Janie along, but they’d offered this gift and she wasn’t in a position to set the parameters.
Did they think she and this Chase would hit it off?
Taking her backpack into the bathroom, she freshened up as best she could. Maybe she should change her clothes, but this was her best dress and she wanted to look good when she met her protector.
They finally landed in Salzburg, Austria, and out the window she saw soaring green peaks. “Mountains,” she cried out, clapping her hands together. Even the fear over placing her trust in an unknown man disappeared at the glorious sight of mountains.
The four men escorted her off the plane. It smelled fresh and like spring, even though it was June and hot at home. They walked to a dark gray Mercedes-Benz SUV, acting as if she were royalty and they were her own personal bodyguards.
Comfortable with them because of their kindness on the plane, Lizzy managed to push away her worries and gape at the scenery. She stared at the soaring mountains framing in a lush green valley with a river running through it. “Oh wow, oh wow. There’s the castle. You know, Hohensalzburg Fortress from the movie?”
Tony nodded. “I remember.”
“Can you even believe it? Perched on a hill above the town, the fortress stands watch over the gorgeous valley. Oh, I hope we tour the fortress and Nonnberg Abbey. I just have to see the town square. You know, Residendplatz and the Schloss Leopoldskron Palace and Schloss Hellbrunn. Is that all a part of our two weeks? Oh, how I hope so.”
“I hope so too,” Elijah offered.
Instead of driving toward the main part of town and the fortress, Tony navigated in the wrong direction, away from the fortress and out of the valley.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Lizzy exclaimed, turning backward in her seat to keep Salzburg in her view. “You’re driving the wrong way.”
They all gave her indulgent smiles.
“We’re staying in Hallstatt,” Peter explained from the driver’s seat. “It’s a little over an hour away and even more scenic than Salzburg.”
“More scenic.” She gestured around at the most gorgeous town, river, valley, and mountains on earth. “How can you top this?”
He chuckled. “I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.”
She was disappointed. She wanted to stay right here in Salzburg, at the Von Trapp mansion if possible. Okay, she knew that wasn’t possible, as they’d used a Hollywood set and different locations in Salzburg for the interior and exterior of the home, but she wanted to see every iconic filming location. She wanted to sing and get carried away in the music and the picturesque indoor and outdoor settings.
“Do you think we’ll come back for aSound of Musictour?”
“It’s on the schedule for the end of next week,” Peter said.
“Oh, bless you.” She relaxed into the seat and was quickly distracted and had plenty of mind-blowing scenery to occupy her. She gaped at and commented on the picturesque canyon overflowing with greenery. A river rushed along beside the car and if she tilted her head, she could almost see the tip-tops of the green and blue mountains.
These mountains blew her away. They were as thrilling and novel to her as the fortress, the Nonnberg convent, the Von Trapp mansion, and the opera house made from a stone quarry.
Would she be able to hike or bike and explore the gorgeous mountains? What would she do when her legs got tired? She’d be mortified if her protector noticed the disability her former boyfriends had at first tolerated and eventually ridiculed her for. The familiar panic pressed in on her chest.
The men hadn’t said much on the flight, and none of them were too chatty on the drive. They simply murmured responses to all her effusiveness.
She exclaimed over every bit of the scenery from the mountains to the river and every wildflower and craggy rock and …
“Bells!” she cried out when they reached a wider valley with green sloping hills and cows chomping lazily on the grass. “The cows really do have bells on them.”
They all chuckled.
She rolled down her window and leaned out. It was cooler than she was used to in June and she only had the thin dress on, but she didn’t care. She could smell the freshness of this land, the river and flowers and greenness of it all, and she could hear the cowbells.
