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

8. Valentina

8

VALENTINA

V alentina stood in the library bathroom the next morning, listening to the rustle of tulle as Caroline Williams tried on her bridesmaid dress.

“Oh wow,” Caroline said from inside the stall. “It fits like a glove.”

“Come on out,” Valentina said. “Let’s see it.”

Caroline emerged looking absolutely stunning. She smiled at herself in the mirror and twirled around just like Valentina had back at Natalie’s place.

“I’m being silly,” Caroline said with an awkward giggle.

“I did exactly the same thing when I tried mine on,” Valentina assured her. “I don’t know how she did it, but Emma managed to choose a color that looks great on everyone. And the fit looks just right too. Alice Cassidy is an amazing seamstress.”

“It’s perfect,” Caroline said with a smile. “But I need to get it off before something happens to it. ”

“I guess being a children’s librarian can be messy,” Valentina realized out loud.

“Definitely,” Caroline said from back inside the stall. “We had finger painting out on the library lawn last summer. I’m still finding multicolored fingerprints all over the library, and that activity happened outside .”

“It’s really great that you do so much for the kids,” Valentina said.

“We want them to get used to coming to the library,” Caroline told her. “If they think of this place as fun, they won’t hesitate to come back when they’re older. And not just to check out books, but also if they need help or information.”

“Interesting,” Valentina said, suddenly thinking of her impasse with Radcliffe.

“You okay?” Caroline asked after a moment of quiet.

“Well,” Valentina said. “What you said about people coming here for help gave me an idea. Do you think that you could help me find some information about the town?”

“Absolutely,” Caroline said, coming out of the stall again with her dress over her arm and an eager expression. “What are you looking for?”

“I wanted to know more about the economy of Trinity Falls,” Valentina said. “What are the economic challenges here? And what are the strengths? Do you have any economic data like that about the town on file?”

“I don’t think so,” Caroline said, frowning thoughtfully. “At least not exactly. You might be able to go through the town newspaper archive to get a sense of how things are going. ”

“Does it have a finance column?” Valentina asked. “That would be terrific.”

“Afraid not,” Caroline said. “But I’ll get you set up with the microfiche, and then I’ll ask Helen what else we might have that would help.”

“Thanks so much,” Valentina said, impressed.

“This is exactly what we’re here for,” Caroline said. “I only wish we had more of the kind of information you’re interested in. I honestly don’t think we’ve ever had this question before.”

Caroline looked pleased and frustrated at the same time, and Valentina couldn’t help smiling. She understood the mixed feelings of being excited for a challenge, but also frustrated at not being prepared. Clearly, she was in the presence of another woman who was just as obsessed with her work as she was.

An hour later, Valentina was still reading back issues of The Trinity Falls Gazette on the microfiche machine. And she wasn’t really getting anywhere.

All the articles seemed to almost purposefully avoid financial data and instead focused on personal things, like interviews with people who had recently gone on an interesting trip, or listings of which kids had won the bicycle race at the Fourth of July parade.

Between the local sports scores, requests for donations to various charities, and rundowns of movie nights, festivals, and library book clubs, there was basically nothing to indicate which areas of the Trinity Falls business scene were thriving and which were struggling.

Helen stopped over to share the Center for Rural Pennsylvania website and help Valentina navigate it. But the information for Tarker County was limited, and didn’t tell her what she really wanted to know.

What do you need? Valentina silently asked Trinity Falls.

The trouble was that the little village and surrounding countryside seemed incredibly self-sufficient, and if there was anything lacking, the people here were definitely prone to keeping a stiff upper lip about it.

Valentina sighed and got up to stretch, realizing that since it was the weekend, she hadn’t gotten to enjoy her second cup of coffee with the crews.

That’s all I need, she told herself. I’ll run over to Jolly Beans and grab a cup of coffee and then I’ll get creative.

She waved goodbye to Caroline, who was bent over a table with two small children, then grabbed her bag and headed out.

The whole town was ensconced in holiday finery now. Christmas trees were on display on the lawn right outside the library, where volunteers from the fire department were helping families choose which ones to buy. The sweet scent of the pine brought back happy memories of childhood holidays, and Valentina paused, wondering suddenly if she should get a tree for her place.

Don’t be silly, she told herself. It’ll just make a mess of pine needles on the floor that I don’t have time to clean up. And I can just look out my window at the town tree.

But it wasn’t the same as having her own, and she knew it. She couldn’t help wondering when she would find her place in life and be able to settle down and do things like decorate a Christmas tree.

An image of Tanner Williams lifting Zeke to place the star on a tall Douglas fir flashed through her mind.

Don’t, she begged herself.

She was still in her own head, trying to straighten herself out when she found herself face to face with the two main players of her cozy fantasy, as if she had summoned them with her thoughts.

Tanner wore a nice wool coat over a white button-down shirt and jeans, and he was smiling in such a relaxed way as Zeke skipped alongside his dad to keep up with his longer strides. He clutched a stack of books under his right arm.

“Hey,” Tanner said, smiling down at Valentina.

“Hi, Valentina,” Zeke said. “You went to the library.”

“Hi, I sure did,” she told him. “I spent a long time there, too.”

“But you didn’t choose any books,” Zeke said sadly, looking at her empty arms.

“I was there to look for information,” she said. “So I didn’t expect to get any books today.”

“Did you find your information?” Tanner asked.

“No,” she said, sounding a little sad herself. “I wanted economic data for Trinity Falls. But all I could find were newspapers with articles about parades, pet adoptions, and rained out craft fairs...”

She trailed off, feeling bad about complaining. As Caroline had said, no one had ever asked for the kind of data she was looking for anyway.

“What did you want that kind of info for?” Tanner asked, frowning.

Valentina looked around, and saw they were alone.

“I was hoping I could get Mr. Radcliffe to consider selling some of the land near where the highway is going in for commercial use,” she said softly. “It’s not selling as residential because no one wants to build a house near the highway. If he was sure that he could sell it for a purpose that served the community, maybe he’d listen to me. There must be businesses this town needs, things that would help Trinity Falls.”

“Well, then it sounds like you got exactly the info you needed from the paper,” Tanner said.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Where are you headed right now?” he asked her instead of answering her question.

“I was just going to grab a coffee,” she said.

“Zeke, are you okay with trading in those books in an hour or so?” he asked his son. “I think we should go get breakfast with Miss Jimenez right now.”

“Okay,” Zeke said happily.

“Come on,” Tanner told her. “Let’s get some food and get you sorted out.”

Valentina couldn’t imagine what he had in mind. She was pretty sure Tanner had never done an economic study or a demographics and market analysis.

But there was something about the quiet confidence in his deep voice that made her think maybe he really was going to get her sorted out anyway.