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

2. Valentina

2

VALENTINA

V alentina smiled as Randy Ullman came ambling into the lobby of the borough office only a few minutes after their scheduled meeting time.

People in Trinity Falls didn’t seem to get as hung up about punctuality as they did in the rest of the world. And it seemed to Valentina that Randy probably moved more slowly now than he had when he was a younger man, and maybe he hadn’t gotten around to adjusting his schedule to accommodate it yet. The last time they met, he’d been almost half an hour late. Today’s meeting was in the morning though, so maybe he hadn’t had a chance to get as far behind yet.

She made a mental note to always try and schedule meetings with him for the morning.

“Hey there, sweetheart,” Randy said with a kind smile.

She wasn’t sure if he always used endearments like that at work, or if he was maybe having trouble remembering her name, but she took no offense either way.

“Hi, Randy,” she replied. “Thank you so much for making some time for me.”

“Anytime,” he said. “Let’s go to the conference room so we can get off our feet.”

She followed him back to the small room overlooking the parking lot. The sky was steel-gray now and some larger snowflakes were beginning to fall.

“Cold out there, eh?” Randy said, lowering himself carefully to his chair.

“Looks like real snow,” she said, unable to help herself.

“Nah,” Randy said, glancing over his shoulder. “Those are just little flurries. But just you wait. We’ll get serious snow in January, and you won’t be so excited about it.”

He winked at her so she could tell he was just teasing. She didn’t have the heart to remind him that she’d been here last winter, and aside from the big blizzard that shut down the whole town for a day or two, she hadn’t really been too bothered by the snow.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she said. “But I brought us both a little breakfast. I never have a chance to eat in the mornings.”

“Radcliffe keeps you busy, eh?” Randy said, chuckling.

“Coke Zero, right?” she asked, pulling the two cans she’d gotten from the machine out of her bag.

“Yes,” he said happily, taking his. “Thanks a lot.”

“And I got us each a raisin scone at Jolly Beans this morning,” she told him as she set out the paper bag .

“Those are my favorite,” he said, sounding surprised.

“Holly mentioned that you liked them when I told her I was planning to see you today,” she admitted. “So I grabbed us a couple.”

“What are you buttering me up for?” Randy asked her with a mischievous grin as he reached for his scone.

“I’m new to all this,” Valentina said honestly. “But I really want to get everything done right. I was hoping we could just go over a handful of houses with open permits and you could let me know exactly what we should do to get ourselves in shape.”

“You want to know what’s taking so long,” Randy said, understanding immediately what she was trying to say in her own polite way.

“Yes,” she said, feeling relieved.

“Those houses in the valley aren’t cleared yet because of the electrical,” he told her simply. “You have a few smaller things, like missing smoke detectors here and there, but all of that could be done in a day or so. The only big thing on your plate right now is electrical.”

“I see,” she said, nodding.

“It’s understandable,” Randy said. “You just fired your electrician.”

She was still amazed at just how fast word got around in the small town.

“He was cutting corners,” Valentina said simply. “We don’t cut corners.”

Randy nodded, his eyes appreciative, but his mouth was full, so he didn’t answer.

“Our new guy has been on the job for a week though,” Valentina went on. “And he came highly recommended. If you don’t mind taking a peek when you’re down there looking at the roofing on 308, it should be done.”

“I was at 308 for the heater yesterday,” Randy said. “Electrical hasn’t been touched.”

It took all her years of business school training and work experience for Valentina to keep her face neutral.

What in heaven’s name had Tanner Williams been doing all week?

She had tried not to wince when Radcliffe said Emma was recommending her cousin to step in and handle the electrical work. The man did have a great reputation in town. Valentina had checked on that herself before following Radcliffe’s instruction to hire him.

But this kind of thing was what too often happened when you hired friends and family. They thought they were doing you a favor by taking on extra work or giving you a good price, but then they decided that meant the rules were different for them, and your job often got pushed off.

“Thank you for letting me know,” she told him.

“He’ll work at his own pace,” Randy advised.

That wasn’t something she’d heard about Tanner before now, but she took note. Randy had been handling inspections for decades. He knew his business, and in her experience he was pretty prone to doing things at his own pace himself. So if he had noticed Tanner was going slowly, it really meant something.

“I’ll talk to him,” she said, mentally already halfway to the valley to do so.

But then Randy cracked his soda can open and she remembered that she had to actually sit and eat with him.

“You don’t have to wait around,” he said, smiling at her fondly. “I know you like to stay moving.”

“I’ve been looking forward to having breakfast with you all day,” she told him, cracking her own can open, her mouth watering at the hiss. “No way am I leaving without trying your favorite scones.”

“We’ll make a hometown girl of you yet, Valentina,” he declared, surprising her by remembering her name and by lifting his can to clink hers.

“How are the grandkids?” she asked, as she took a bite of her scone. She had expected it to be flavorless and dry, but it melted in her mouth and the tiny raisins were sweet and delicious.

“I was going to try not to show you photos this time,” Randy said a little sadly. “I really was. But Megan played a rutabaga in the school play last week and it really feels like you’d be missing out on something you don’t get to see every day.”

“I definitely want to see that,” Valentina laughed, delighted to find that she meant it.

Half an hour later, she found that she was in great spirits heading into the countryside for the second time in one morning.

Randy wasn’t wrong, she did like to stay moving. But taking a moment to connect once in a while really was nice. Just laughing with him over Megan’ s adorable photos in the rutabaga costume had been worth sacrificing a little bit of her morning.

And before she left, he’d casually offered her a huge favor.

“You’re a good kid,” he’d declared, leaning back and patting his belly. “If you want to start taking photos of the work, you can text them to me and I’ll take a look and let you know in advance if I see problems.”

He’d scrawled his cell number on a scrap of paper for her while she watched in total awe.

“Of course, I still have to see everything in person before I sign off,” he told her sternly as he handed over the precious scrap of paper.

She had thanked him profusely, unable to believe her good fortune. Since Randy was part-time these days, she often had to wait days or weeks for an inspection depending on his schedule, only for him to require a small change that led to more waiting for a re-inspection. Sending photos in advance might make any project happen weeks faster if it let them get to work on his changes sooner.

She was sure he never would have offered if they hadn’t shared breakfast today. But she decided the time spent would have been worth it either way.

Valentina was feeling good as she pulled up at the house where Tanner Williams had told her he’d be working today.

Their text exchange before she headed out had been straightforward and simple—she asked where he was, and within five minutes he responded. A lot of the crew didn’t carry their phones while they were working, or didn’t often stop in the middle of something to respond to them, so she was encouraged that he clearly made an effort to be reachable.

She hadn’t been too pleased to hear that he was still at the big farmhouse on Juniper Lane though. The last guy had finished this place in a few days. Surely Tanner could have cleaned it up in a day or two.

She pulled up out front, admiring the great big house with the wide front porch, surrounded by what seemed to her like endless rolling acres.

If I ever settled down in the country, I’d want a house just like this one, she thought to herself.

Shaking her head at her own nonsense, Valentina headed carefully for the front porch. She didn’t want to settle down in the country. She had no idea where such a funny thought would come from.

Wiping her feet on the towel someone had thoughtfully put down, she knocked on the door and then opened it.

“Hello,” she called out as she stepped into the center hall.

Valentina had learned that you didn’t wait for anyone to come to the door in a work zone. Half the time, the guys were up to their ears in a project in a remote part of the house, or using machinery that meant they couldn’t hear the door anyway. Electricians did a lot of their work in basements and attics, so she expected she’d have to go looking for Tanner.

“Hey,” a deep voice said from the doorway to the living room before she could take another step.

She almost jumped out of her shoes, but managed to steady herself.

“Sorry,” he said with a half-smile. “I came up when you texted that you were on your way.”

He was tall, with wide shoulders and dark hair. As he gazed down at her with crystal blue eyes, she had to admit to herself that he was annoyingly handsome. Faded jeans and a formfitting black sweater only added to his appeal.

“Valentina Jimenez,” she said, sticking her hand out as she put herself into professional mode.

“Very nice to meet you, Miss Jimenez,” he said, correctly pronouncing it heem-AYN-ehz like she did, instead of copping out and calling her Miss Valentina, like so many people did. “Tanner Williams.”

He listens , a little voice in the back of her head noted with satisfaction as he took her hand. And he looks like Prince Charming from one of those princess movies.

An annoying shiver of awareness went through Valentina as their hands touched and she ended the handshake more quickly than she normally would have.

“Valentina’s fine,” she said, trying to stay professional. “I’m here to discuss the progress you’re making on this project.”

“None,” he said simply.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean that the guy you had in here before was a slob,” Tanner replied with quiet confidence. “I’m not making any progress of my own because I have to redo what he already did before I can start anything new.”

“Howie Linck completed this house in four days,” she said. “Are you really telling me it’s taking you over a week just to clean it up?”

“Yes,” he said simply. “Probably two weeks.”

Horror swept through her as she thought about what that was going to mean for the project timeline if it were true.

“You don’t have two weeks,” she told him firmly, determined to stay calm and professional. “We’ve got half a dozen properties waiting for electrical work to close out the permits. We hired you because you were supposed to be good. You were supposed to catch us up.”

“I am good,” he told her matter-of-factly. “But I’m not a magician.”

Something about the cocky way he threw out the sarcastic remark broke down the last of her patience.

“I know you’re Emma’s cousin,” she heard herself say, her voice anything but level as she marched toward him. “But that doesn’t mean you can take advantage of Mr. Radcliffe and put his project on the back burner?—”

“Miss Jimenez,” he interrupted.

“Our boss did something very special for this town,” she went on, ignoring his rude attempt to cut her off and grabbing the threshold of the living room doorway with one hand and placing her other hand on her hip as she settled in to give him a much-needed piece of her mind. “As far as I’m concerned everyone in this place should be grateful to him for what he did here.”

“We definitely are, but—” he tried again.

“Instead,” she went on, “I seem to have a string of electricians who only want to take his money and waste his time. Are you one of them, Tanner Williams? Is that what you’re so anxious to tell me?”

“No, ma’am,” he said right away when she was finished. “I was just trying to tell you that you’re leaning in wet paint.”

She blinked at him, and he pointed at her left arm, which rested against the molding. Pulling it away, she found that it was completely covered in white paint.

“There’s a slop sink in the laundry room,” Tanner offered. “But that’s trim paint. I don’t think it’s coming out.”

Closing her eyes, she counted to three as she took a deep breath and let it out. It was only a jacket. She loved this lavender skirt suit, but she had plenty of other outfits.

“I’m sorry,” he said gently.

“It’s fine,” she said, opening her eyes and trying not to touch the rest of herself with the painty arm.

“I’m as grateful to Baz as anyone here,” Tanner said. “He’s done great things for the town, and he and his boy make my baby cousin really happy. That’s exactly why I won’t rush this project. His name is on these deeds, just like my name is on the work. You can have this kind of work done fast, or you can have it done right.”

“I’m not asking you to cut corners,” she said quickly.

“This house was powered with knob and tube wiring throughout ,” Tanner said. “That old wiring is a dangerous fire hazard. So nearly every wall in the house needs to have holes put in it and new wiring needs to be fed through. It’s probably a two-week job, it definitely can’t be done in four days. Linck did about a quarter of it, just the stuff that’s easy to reach and see, conveniently.”

Valentina nodded, that tracked from what she knew of the other electrician.

“So, in addition to cleaning up what he did in the panel and the walls, I’m running three-way switches and working in the crawlspaces,” Tanner went on, running a hand through his hair and unconsciously showing off the muscles in his upper arm. “I’m doing all the spots that are harder to reach, where you sometimes have to get creative. And that takes time.”

Valentina swallowed, shaking her head. This wasn’t the news she wanted, but it really seemed like she was dealing with someone else who cared about their work.

She looked up at him, allowing herself to make more eye contact than she normally did with the guys, just to be sure he was telling her the truth.

His blue eyes flashed with ice and her breath caught in her throat. Why did he have to be so handsome? It certainly wasn’t making this any easier. And why was she reacting to him like this? It wasn’t like there weren’t plenty of cute guys in Trinity Falls. But she’d never met one that was quite so distracting before. If she wasn’t careful, he might get the wrong idea…

“Do you want to spend the night in this house tonight?” he asked, his deep voice sending a shiver through her.

What did he just ask me? the last sensible bone in her body demanded indignantly as she stood there frozen. How dare he ? —

“Because I won’t leave this property until I would spend the night in it,” he finished.

“Understood,” she said, nodding and tearing her eyes from his. “Thank you for giving me the background. I’ll let you get back to work, but please keep me apprised house by house as you finish each one up.”

He stood there for a moment and she wondered if she had finally surprised him instead of the other way around.

“And I’d like you to take a look at the other properties,” she added. “We should have a sit-down in the next few days to make a realistic schedule. I want things done right, without any corners cut. But I also expect you to keep an aggressive pace.”

She turned to go, crushed that her whole schedule had just gone out the window, but glad that Radcliffe wasn’t going to unknowingly sell houses with bad electrical work done to them. The first thing she was doing when she got back to the office was to check to be sure none of the homes Linck worked on had been sold yet. Fortunately, he’d only been with them for a month or so before she had realized his work wasn’t up to par.

“Hang on, Miss Jimenez,” Tanner called out to her suddenly when she had nearly reached the front door.

“Yes?” she said, turning back to him.

“You’re going to get paint all over your car,” he said, shaking his head.

“I can’t meet with Mr. Radcliffe wearing a camisole,” she said with a frown.

Tanner looked confused .

“It’s like a tank top,” she told him, suddenly wanting to giggle. “Women wear them under a blazer.”

Before she knew what was happening, he was peeling off his sweater, revealing a slim-fitting Henley underneath. He was so strong, and she could tell those muscles were from real work, not from the gym.

“Here,” he said, tossing her the sweater. “It’s not fancy, but it’s better than a paint-covered jacket, right?”

She definitely didn’t have time to get all the way back to the village to change clothes before her meeting with Radcliffe.

“Thanks,” she said.

He nodded to her, but didn’t leave.

Is he waiting for me to take off my blazer?

The idea gave her an odd tingle that made her angry with herself. What on earth was happening to her? She’d never been boy-crazy. In fact, she had never really even dated. There just hadn’t been time.

“Sorry,” he said, seeming to realize she was waiting for him to leave. “I’ll be in touch when I’m ready for that meeting.”

“Fine,” she said.

She waited until he had disappeared further into the house before unbuttoning her jacket and slipping it off.

His sweater was still toasty warm from his body heat, and it smelled delicious—like a wood fire, and spicy too, like maybe he wore old-fashioned aftershave. It felt like she was being held by the kind of man who knew how to fish and hunt and set up a campsite—all things she had absolutely zero interest in.

Get it together, she told herself fiercely.

She marched herself out of the house and back out to her car. But before she got in, she stopped and looked up at the two-story home one more time, and a strange sensation went through her as his words echoed in her head.

I won’t leave this property until I would spend the night in it.

Mr. Radcliffe was in good hands with an electrician who had a sense of pride in his work—that must be why she felt a flutter of pleasure in her chest as she looked back at the house.

It was just professional satisfaction. That was all.