Secrets to a Happy Ending

Chapter 3

Lydia walked out into the arrivals area; the baggage reclaim section seemed almost blissful in comparison. Arrivals was extremely busy there were hundreds of people waiting at the gate.

Whole families waiting to greet their loved ones, who were now living in the UK who had come over to visit. There were taxi drivers waiting with placards with names of different people they were waiting to collect.

Lydia fought through the crowd of people and saw all the different kiosks for the car hire companies. She walked along with her trolley until she found the car hire company she was assigned.

Once in the hire car, Lydia set the GPS with the coordinates of where she was going. According to the GPS her drive would be a little over 3 hours to reach her destination. She checked her watch it was just after 5pm, it was still daylight, so she set off towards her destination.

Bulgaria was extremely warm in the summer and Lydia had the air-conditioning on full blast, she turned on the radio and recognised the song that came on, which she started to sing along to. It felt a little strange when she was driving on the other side of the road on the other side of the car, she chose an automatic thinking there would be enough chaos going on for her to not have to think about changing gears also.

Once on the motorway the busy traffic of Sofia melted away and the roads became more silent. She saw that the sun beginning to set over the mountain tops, the scenery was beautiful, with pine trees as far as the eye could see. Sometimes she thought she was more in Canada than in Bulgaria.

She reached a stretch of winding road as she headed up through mountains, the GPS was guiding her towards the northwest region of Bulgaria, which was much more mountainous and had no coastline.

She reached the top of the mountain and happened to glimpse out the window, when she saw the most beautiful valley with a deep blue lake in the middle. She brought the car to a halt and grabbed her camera, she got out of the car and started to take some pictures, it was one of the most beautiful scenes she ever saw. She checked her watch 8.30pm, she got back in the car as set off again.

About ten minutes later her mobile began to ring it was Michael her editor.

"Hello Michael." She said.

"Lydia, you made it over safe?" He asked.

"The flight was good yeah; I met a companion who made the time go quicker I'm driving now and should be there in just under an hour and a half."

"Good...good well when you get there you need to check in to the Hotel which is called, the Happy Endings Hotel its run by a Mrs Gladys Carmichael. You will have no problem checking in. I have emailed you the reservation also it will be on your iPad."

"Got it Happy Endings Hotel, Gladys Carmichael I will check the email when I arrive."

Lydia ended the call and checked the clock 9pm she was making good progress the GPS indicated her destination was only 40 minutes away.

She finally arrived at the village at 9.45pm the sun had set, and it was dark and quiet, the main street seemed quiet and deserted, Lydia could hardly make out any of the features of the village as it seemed dimly lit. She saw a sign for the hotel and pulled up outside. She got out of the car where the warm air hit her it was like opening a oven door, she forgot how conceiving it was in a car with air conditioning very different to the weather in the UK. She felt herself perspire at the heat a little, she made her way quickly towards the hotel.

The Happy Endings Hotel was situated at the far side of the village set back in it own secluded surroundings.

As Lydia walked up to it, she was struck by how pretty it appeared, reminding her of the ski lodges in Austria. A three-story building with the reception and dining area. Walking down the path which each side was full of solar powered orbs, butterflies and fairly lights all changing colour in the shade of the trees simultaneously which made it look magical.