Cowboy’s Christmas Bridesmaid (Trinity Falls: Icicle Christmas #8)

1. Valentina

1

VALENTINA

V alentina slowed her pace when she reached Park Avenue, admiring the pretty storefronts all decorated for Christmas, and catching her breath a little at the end of her brisk morning walk.

Walking before work got her energy flowing and her mind ready to tackle whatever the day threw at her. Admittedly, she hadn’t enjoyed dragging herself out of bed early at first, or bundling up to face the weather once it turned cold. But now that she was living in a little apartment in Trinity Falls village, Valentina had actually started looking forward to her morning burst of activity.

She didn’t even mind the cold, since the scenery here at Christmastime was like something out of the movies she and her mom had watched together during every holiday season of her childhood. Sprawling Victorian houses were hung with twinkling lights, and some owners had even added lighting and decorations to the trees in their front yards.

But it wasn’t just the way the town looked that made it feel magical—it was the way neighbors greeted each other, asking about kids and parents, chatting about the weather and the upcoming Hometown Holiday celebration, or even just waving from across the street as they walked past with their dog or stroller. Even Valentina, who still knew practically no one, got a friendly wave or a good morning now and then.

Given her lofty career goals, she was pretty sure that she should feel stuck in this rural Pennsylvania town, but it seemed to be growing on her instead.

Until this year, Valentina had spent her life in a single-minded pursuit to become successful in the business world. Landing an internship with billionaire Sebastian Radcliffe had made her the envy of her business school class. She worked with him in Philadelphia for a few years, feeling incredibly lucky each time he took notice of her dedication and moved her up within the company.

Quickly, she became his right-hand-woman. And though he encouraged her to spin that role into something even bigger with another firm, she stuck around.

After all, she knew how rare it was to have a boss who didn’t discount her ideas just because she was a woman, or because she had come from a modest background. Radcliffe was from a working-class family himself, and he always said it was a strength, not a weakness.

But when he essentially dropped everything to come to this little town and save it from developers by buying up land himself, he had offered her an out again, and it was possible she’d made a mistake by not taking it, at least in terms of advancing her career .

She was in her late twenties with a fancy degree and an impressive resume—poised to jump into the kind of project that was going to let her make her mark on the world. She was used to spending her days negotiating contracts and using her hard-earned, high-powered connections to make Radcliffe’s enterprises run smoothly.

But today the highlight of her schedule would be a conversation with Randy, the elderly town building inspector, who would probably spend most of their allotted time showing her grainy photos of his great-grandson on his flip phone.

And yet somehow she felt happy. Snow flurries began to fall as she crossed the street to the café on the corner, and she smiled to herself at how much she felt like she was living in a tiny, perfect snow globe. She wanted to stick out her tongue and try to catch the tiny flakes, but obviously a grown woman couldn’t do things like that in public.

The bells over the door of Jolly Beans jingled merrily as she pushed it open, releasing the rich scent of coffee and the owner’s famous cranberry loaf.

“Hey, Valentina,” Holly called out to her with a smile. “I’ll be right over.”

The friendly blonde waitress handed out the drinks and food from her tray to a table where two young moms sat with their toddlers, and then headed to the counter where Valentina waited with her insulated travel cup.

“The usual?” Holly asked.

Holly was one person in town who definitely knew Valentina’s name, since she grabbed her first cup of coffee each day here after her walk.

“Yes, please,” she said. “And I’d love your help with something else today, too. Do you know what Randy Ullman likes as a snack? I’m meeting him later on.”

“Isn’t that sweet of you?” Holly said with a smile.

“Well, my dad always says the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach ,” Valentina replied. “And Mr. Radcliffe is waiting for some permits to go through. I thought maybe Randy would take an extra moment just to go over everything with me if I have his favorite treat for him to enjoy while he does.”

“Well, now that’s practical and sweet,” Holly told her. “Randy says the rich stuff doesn’t agree with him, but I do notice he’s partial to our raisin scones lately.”

“Perfect,” Valentina said. “I’ll take two of those as well.”

“You got it,” Holly said, grabbing the tongs and bending to slide two of the fresh-baked treats into a paper bag.

Valentina looked around a little as Holly poured coffee into her reusable cup. The small café was bustling already, even though it was still early. Its location right next to the train station meant there were always commuters coming and going, and of course Trinity Falls had plenty of people up early to exercise, or with small kids. There were even a handful of local farmers here, probably grabbing a coffee before heading over to the hardware store.

And just like the neighbors out on their lawns, everyone here seemed to know each other. They called across the tables to say hello or stopped on their way past to exchange pleasantries.

“Valentina,” a familiar voice said.

She felt a little spark of pleasure as she turned to see Caroline from the library. Even if it was only because of a community activity like a book club, it was really nice to have someone greet her, too.

“Hi, Caroline,” she said. “How are you?”

“Great,” Caroline said. “Looking forward to telling Pennsylvania ghost stories with the campers this weekend. The research was fun.”

Caroline and her husband Logan had taken on a huge project this year, building cabins on the Williams family homestead to host kids from the city who wanted to come out and learn about farming, nature, and, if Caroline had anything to do with it, storytelling.

“I’m sure it will be magical,” Valentina told her sincerely. “You do everything with your whole heart.”

“Thanks,” Caroline told her, looking gratified. “I’m lucky to get to do what I love.”

Valentina smiled at that and felt a pang of… something, like thinking she should be missing that feeling herself since things had slowed so much for her lately. But even though it didn’t make sense to her, she still felt happy.

“Here you go,” Holly said from behind the counter.

Valentina thanked her and paid, saying her goodbyes to Caroline and still wondering what had gotten into her today. Sure, she liked Trinity Falls, but she really should want to be doing more with herself than trying to get her boss out of the pickle he was in with all the properties he had purchased.

She stood outside her car for a moment and took a sip of her coffee, savoring the delicious brew and the fresh, cold air.

I just need to shake off the morning cobwebs, she told herself as she got in the car, placing the bag with the scones on the passenger seat.

The drive from the village out to the farmhouse where Radcliffe based his operations was beautiful—just what she needed to clear her head. The tiny town melted quickly into pretty houses, and from there she passed the campus of the community college.

After that, she was driving past fields and farmhouses under a soft, cloudy gray sky. The road curved over and around small hillsides and past actual red barns, so that she felt like she was in a car commercial or something.

At last, she spotted the familiar sign for Whispering Ridge, and pulled up to park in the gravel driveway.

Radcliffe might have tied up a lot of his fortune in land, but he was still a billionaire. Valentina assumed that meant he could afford to pave the driveway, or remove the flowery wallpaper from the first floor of the house, which included his office and hers.

But the man had honestly been born for the country life. He chopped his own wood for the fireplace, and sometimes dressed like that was his whole job. The old-fashioned decor of the house didn’t seem to bother him at all.

Luckily, his fiancée Emma, who Valentina liked very much, was a local, and she was about as formal as he was, so she didn’t mind him looking like a lumberjack sometimes. They were a great couple, and Valentina was looking forward to being a bridesmaid at their upcoming wedding.

She hadn’t really hit it off with Emma from day one, mostly due to Valentina’s possibly overdeveloped sense of loyalty to her boss. But once she came to terms with the fact that Emma wasn’t just one more woman chasing Radcliffe for his money, and the people in the little town really were as nice as they seemed, things got easier. And even though her stand-offishness had probably set her social standing back quite a bit with the rest of the town, she was able to forge a real friendship with Emma.

Valentina grabbed the sealed container she’d stowed in the trunk before her morning walk, as well as her coffee cup and the scones, and headed inside. She made her way quickly through the center hall, back to the sunny addition the former owners had called a Florida room and ducked into her office, where she slipped off her sneakers and put on a nice pair of heels.

While her boss could afford to come to work in denim and flannel, Valentina still followed her father’s advice: Dress for the job you want. That meant business clothing, high heels, and her own fashion favorite—pretty, dangly earrings—every day.

She ran her finger once down the back of the small bronze statue of a horse that she kept on her desk. Her grandfather had bought it at a pawn shop more than fifty years ago. The day her dad passed it on to her, she vowed to keep it near her always.

Santiago Jimenez had always wanted to own a horse, but he spent his lifetime working hard in the city to ensure that his son could get a great education. He had passed before Valentina was born, but she still felt like she knew him. Many of her dad’s sayings came from him.

I see horses every day here, Abuelo, she told him in her mind. You would love it.

She tucked the bag of scones safely into a desk drawer. The crews she worked with were outside most of the day in cold weather, and it meant they were always ravenous, so no food was safe if it was visible.

Fortunately, that lined up perfectly with the fact that Valentina loved to bake. She grabbed the bigger container she brought in and her now-empty coffee cup and headed out the back door and down to the big barn, where most of the guys had coffee every morning before heading out on assignments.

Valentina held formal meetings with the crew bosses regularly to discuss their progress with the properties that were being renovated and resold. But she had found that she could learn more about day-to-day operations by standing around the coffee urn with the workmen than she ever could in an official meeting. And dropping off treats while she grabbed her second cup of coffee was a great way to get the team going.

Teetering down the slight hill in her heels was a small price to pay for good information. Thankfully, someone had laid some boards over the uneven gravel path at some point during her first year working here, so it was a lot easier to traverse now than it had been picking her way through mud and rocks in the beginning.

“Valentina,” Daniel Sullivan said happily as she entered the barn, pushing himself off the wall he had been leaning on to chat with two of the Anderson brothers. “How are you, boss lady?”

Daniel was a horse guy, so he was responsible for the animals that had been left behind in Radcliffe’s land deals.

“Hey, Daniel,” she said politely as she peeled the lid off the big plastic container. “I’m just fine. How are you?”

She had learned in grad school that when it came to interacting with men, it was best to keep her voice even and polite, and not make too much eye contact until a conversation was underway. This had helped her fend off unwanted romantic attention, which could sometimes seem inevitable working in a male-dominated field.

She was surprised to find that it was much easier to establish a respectful rapport with the contractors and farmhands out here in the country than it had ever been in the boardrooms and trading floors where she had worked in the city. The men here treated her with kindness and deference. And once they saw that she paid attention, they were generous with advice that proved invaluable during her first year on the job. She couldn’t count the number of times one of them had pulled her aside to explain something about the work or the people doing it that gave her time-saving insight.

“Are those your grandmother’s empanadas?” Jessie Miller asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

“They are,” she laughed. “Chicken today. I hope you’re hungry.”

“You spoil us,” Daniel said, grabbing one and then standing back to chat.

“I love to bake,” she told him honestly. “And I can’t eat them all myself.”

“You guys still doing interiors on the lake houses?” Kevin Anderson asked Jessie as he refilled his coffee mug.

The Anderson boys were carpenters, with an array of other farm skills that allowed them to do all kinds of things around the properties. Jessie was on one of the paint crews.

“Nah,” Jessie said, frowning. “Bud has us doing some of the exterior stuff.”

“It’s too cold for that,” Kevin said sternly.

Jessie just shrugged and helped himself to a couple of empanadas as Kevin’s brother, Luke, stepped up to grab a coffee.

Valentina made a mental note to ask Bud about the painting in their next meeting. She had learned that painting exteriors in this kind of cold could mean the paint was peeling again by springtime. While she was determined that Radcliffe should sell off properties as quickly as possible, it definitely wasn’t right to cut corners. She’d just had to let an electrician go for being sloppy. Thankfully, Emma had recommended a replacement who started up immediately. Valentina could only hope that they hadn’t lost any ground.

A couple more guys wandered over, and they all shot the breeze for a while. By the time she finished her coffee, the paint issue was the only one she’d heard, which made it a good morning.

“What are you up to today?” Luke asked her politely as she grabbed the empty container .

“I have a meeting with Randy Ullman,” she said. “Which I should probably get to now.”

The guys sent her off with thanks for the treats and wishes of good luck for the meeting. They knew as well as she did that getting permits taken care of was a lot of work, and not always in her control.

She hoped that today she could at least get a road map of what needed to happen to close out four or five houses that she really thought should be just about ready.

As she was heading to the parking area to drive back into town, her cell phone rang. Natalie Cassidy appeared on the screen.

While Valentina and Emma had ultimately bonded, she wasn’t close with Emma’s other friends. She hoped she could make a good impression on them and maybe end the wedding with a handful of new friends after sharing bridesmaid duties together.

The phone call from Natalie was unusual, though—typically any bridesmaid news was shared in the group chat.

“Hi, Natalie,” she said. “I’m getting in the car, so hang on for just a second.”

“Sure,” Natalie said happily.

“Okay, sorry about that,” Valentina said, once she had the car started and the call switched over to the speaker. “How’s it going?”

“I know you’re working,” Natalie said. “But I just wanted to call you really quickly about a little thing for the wedding.”

“Okay,” Valentina said. “ What can I do?”

“It’s a fun surprise for Emma,” Natalie said, a smile in her voice. “You know how she loves the movie The Princess and the Stable Boy ?”

“Of course,” Valentina said, smiling at the memory of Emma’s horror when Valentina admitted she hadn’t seen it yet. Naturally, the two of them had watched the classic romcom the next time they both had a free evening.

“Well, you know how at the end, the princess’s sisters all come riding up on horseback before her wedding?” Natalie asked.

“Sure,” Valentina said, thinking back to the bevy of women with flowing hair riding horses up the mountainside with the romantic theme song playing.

“We’re going to do that,” Natalie said, giggling with excitement.

“Do what?” Valentina asked.

“We’re going to ride up to join her on horseback,” Natalie said. “She’ll think we just disappeared, and then we’ll ride up the hillside. It will be perfect.”

“Wow,” Valentina said, feeling a little nervous at the idea. As a city girl, she hadn’t really spent a lot of time around horses.

“I already talked to Shane,” Natalie said. “We can bring horses over from our place. You know how to ride, right?”

“Sure,” Valentina said automatically, not wanting to put a damper on any of the plans Natalie seemed so excited about.

Valentina didn’t actually know how to ride, but how hard could it be? You just had to get on and steer. And besides, she had always wanted to learn to ride, even though she was just a little more intimidated by real horses than the ones in the movies, now that she had seen some up close. At least she would be one step closer to fulfilling her grandfather’s dream.

And it really didn’t matter either way. There was no way she would be the one bridesmaid who ruined everything by not being able to do something that would make Emma really happy.

“That’s great,” Natalie said, and launched into a rundown of other things they were all planning.

Valentina tried to focus on everything else Natalie was saying as she headed back for the village. But she couldn’t help thinking to herself that if she had some friends, real friends, her life might feel more balanced.