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

10. Valentina

10

VALENTINA

V alentina stood in front of the mirror, wondering why it had been so long since she left home looking like she was ready to have fun.

She wore a pretty tan sweater with barely visible white snowflakes woven around the collar and a pair of dark, trouser-style jeans and brown leather, low-heeled granny boots. The whole thing was going to look great with her wool coat.

It had been hard not to notice Tanner’s reaction to her hair yesterday. She was wearing it down again today.

It’s not to get his attention, she told herself firmly. It’s so that I look relaxed and casual, like he asked.

She swiped a little gloss on her lips and nodded with satisfaction. She looked pretty and relaxed, but still like herself. If she bumped into anyone she worked with, it wasn’t like they would see her looking like a punk rocker or something. She was just dropping the formality for once .

Why don’t you call him Baz?

Emma’s question lingered in her mind. It had been hard to articulate her answer at the bridesmaids’ night. But the more she thought about it, the more Valentina felt that she really wanted respect and formality to be part of her workplace. And Radcliffe must want the same, if she had risen so quickly to the top of his team and he had installed her as his right hand.

And besides, it wasn’t as if she didn’t have feelings of warmth and admiration for her boss. She absolutely did. Mr. Radcliffe was kind and fair and she honestly adored him. They had known each other for most of her adult life, and she knew him and his son better than she knew most of her extended family members.

But that didn’t mean they had to be on a first-name basis. Maybe their closeness made it that much more important that he knew she hadn’t forgotten the chain of command. Her dad liked to remind her that the old saying that “familiarity breeds contempt” had been found in writings as far back as the fifth century. Which certainly backed up her desire to stay professional when it came to her boss.

A bright tone chirped from her laptop, and she gasped and ran for the living room.

Valentina had regular video calls with her family every Sunday after early morning church, and she was normally waiting around and looking forward to the sound of that tone. But with all the excitement over her research and the plans she had made with Tanner and Zeke, she had actually forgotten all about today’s call .

At least I look nice, she told herself as she lifted the screen of her laptop and accepted the call.

“VAH-lay,” the younger of her two older brothers yelled, pronouncing her nickname the Spanish way, and making her smile.

“Hey, Rafe,” she said fondly.

“ Rafael, is she on? ” their mother called from the other room.

“She’s here, Mamá,” he called back to her.

Just then, another rectangle appeared in the call and her oldest brother Gabriel’s face popped up.

“Hey kids,” Gabriel said, arching a brow. “Are you behaving?”

“You know you’re only like two years older than me,” Rafe reminded him.

“And I always will be,” Gabriel replied with a satisfied smile.

Valentina laughed. She loved the constant joking around between Rafe and Gabriel that had been the soundtrack to her childhood.

Their mom squeezed in beside Rafe, the two of them taking up one of the three rectangles. Normally, her parents shared a laptop and Rafe used his own from somewhere else in the house.

“Where’s Papá?” Valentina asked.

“The VanHorns up on the ninth floor have a leak in their ceiling again,” Mama said brightly, shaking her head and looking like she was trying not to laugh.

“ The Albrechts ,” Valentina and Gabriel said together.

The Albrechts loved their indoor garden, but Birdy Albrecht was getting older, and she tended to miss the flowerpots when she did her watering these days, which caused problems when she used the hose from out on the balcony, which was strictly prohibited by the lease but didn’t seem to stop her.

Valentina’s dad, Hugo Jimenez, had earned a business degree in the evenings after working during the day for a general contractor. But before he ever had a single interview for an office position, he had taken a job as superintendent of a fancy uptown apartment building, The Manchester. The job came with a first-floor apartment for his own family that would allow the three Jimenez children to attend one of the very best public schools in the city.

Now they were all through school, but housing costs had gone up so much that her parents had decided they were better off staying put. But that also meant her father kept losing countless evenings and weekends to the various VanHorns and Albrechts of the building. Valentina couldn’t count how many Christmas Eves and Easter dinners had been interrupted when someone at The Manchester called on her father for just a silly thing that took him hours to sort out, and could have easily waited for Monday.

Valentina was certain that after all of her father’s sacrifice, her parents expected all three kids to make something of themselves.

Gabriel had become a teacher, and while there was no more noble profession, it didn’t pay well. So, while they were incredibly proud of their oldest, Valentina was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be able to help out their parents financially, especially once he had a family of his own.

Rafael had been accepted to law school. But he’d fallen in love with art during a semester abroad in his senior year of undergrad, and he’d wound up going to Paris to study art instead. Now he was living at home again and gearing up for another of his shows. Again, their parents were proud of Rafe’s skills and passion. But Valentina still worried.

By the time she headed to college, she knew it was all down to her. Her parents would never say it, but if anyone was going to get them into their own apartment, and her father off his knees on other people’s floors, it was her.

And she was so close.

“How are you, Valentina?” her mom asked.

The others looked at her expectantly.

“Things here are good,” she said. “Overall, at least. Mr. Radcliffe really needs to sell some properties to get this project into the black. I’m researching ways he could do that without feeling like he let the town down.”

“I meant how are you , honey,” her mom said, a furrow in her brow.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Valentina said, racking her brain for something personal to tell them and realizing happily that she did have something this week. “I was at a get-together for the bridesmaids a few nights ago. We tried on dresses and ate dinner together.”

“That sounds like fun,” her mother said.

“It was,” Valentina told her. “We were at Natalie’s house. Her mother-in-law made all the dresses, and she cooked our dinner too. She made it all look so easy.”

“That’s really nice,” her mom said. “Reminds me of your abuela.”

“Oh, you’re right,” Valentina said, nodding and realizing that was why she had felt so at home that night.

“Is Emma getting nervous about the wedding?” her mom asked. “It’s coming up soon.”

“No,” Valentina said, smiling fondly. “She just seems happy.”

“She’s marrying Mr. Moneybags,” Rafe teased, his eyes dancing. “She’s only nervous he’ll change his mind.”

“That’s not why she’s marrying him,” Valentina protested.

He was teasing, but she knew they all wondered. She wished they could meet her friend so they would understand. Valentina knew how it looked for a young woman from a struggling family to marry a man as wealthy as Mr. Radcliffe. But it hadn’t taken Valentina long to see that Emma was the most sincere and least greedy person she had ever met.

“Rafael, you apologize to your sister,” Mom said sternly. “That’s her friend.”

“Sorry,” Rafe said contritely. “But I still think you should have made him fall in love with you instead.”

“That’s not how love works, papi,” Mom said, shaking her head with a smile.

“Why don’t you make one of your rich art patronesses fall in love with you, Rafe?” Gabriel teased. “If money is so important.”

“As soon as I get some rich art patronesses, I’ll definitely marry one of them,” Rafe said dreamily. “As long as she can cook. ”

“ Rafael ,” their mother said, smacking his shoulder. But she was smiling. They all knew Rafael was a true romantic. He would never marry for money, or even for good home-cooked meals.

Valentina’s doorbell rang before she had time to say anything else.

Tanner…

“I want to stay and hear about what’s going on with everyone,” Valentina said. “But I actually have to run.”

“Do you have a date?” Gabriel asked suddenly.

Gabriel was the last member of the family who would ever tease her for not having a social life. And he was also the most perceptive.

Oh, Gabriel—you and your oldest brother superpower…

She blinked at the screen, feeling her face heat, and then started shaking her head hard.

“No,” she said. “Definitely not. I’m taking a little research trip with a coworker.”

Actually, he’s an independent contractor. And he reports to me. And I wish it was a date, even though I ran HR’s Appropriate-Workplace sessions myself back in the city…

“Ohhhhh,” Rafe crowed. “A coworker , huh? I thought All-Business-Valentina would never date a co-worker.”

“I wouldn’t,” she said quickly. “I’ve got to go, though. I love you guys.”

She logged out as they were all yelling their goodbyes.

Sometimes she missed her family so much it hurt. She wished they could all be in the same city. But she was super thankful that they had their regular video calls. Seeing them all happy like that made it worth being teased mercilessly by her brothers every Sunday.

She grabbed her coat and her bag and headed down the steps to the main entry.

Tanner stood outside looking absolutely gorgeous with his cowboy hat and faded jeans. Zeke was bundled up, but she could see his smiling face peeking out from between his hat and scarf.

“Hey there,” Tanner said, his deep voice sending a little shiver through her.

“Hi, Valentina,” Zeke said. “We’re going to have so much fun today, and we’re definitely getting a candy apple.”

“We might get a candy apple,” Tanner corrected him. “If we do a good job having a real lunch first.”

“Okay,” Zeke agreed. “I lost a tooth, Valentina.”

He grinned at her, and she saw that sure enough, one of the teeth beside the two front ones that were growing in was now missing.

“Wow,” she said.

“The tooth fairy left me a dollar,” he said. “So I can buy my own candy apple.”

“The tooth fairy doesn’t know about inflation,” Tanner teased. “Or she would have a good plan there for getting more teeth.”

“What’s inflation?” Zeke asked.

“I’ll explain it to you later,” Tanner told him. “Right now, I’m worried about Valentina’s coat.”

“My coat?” Valentina asked, looking down at herself.

“That’s a very pretty coat,” Tanner said. “But we’re going to the farm. Do you have one that’s more casual? One you can throw in the washing machine if it gets dirty? ”

“No,” she said. “I guess I’ll just have to take my chances.”

“Nah,” Tanner said. “Here.”

He shrugged off the thick fleece jacket he wore and handed it to her.

“Oh, I couldn’t—” she began.

“I’ve got another one in the truck,” he told her, grabbing a fleece-lined flannel from the backseat. “You can put your pretty one back here.”

“Okay,” she told him, taking off her coat and handing it over.

It was bitterly cold out, but Tanner’s emerald green, fleece jacket was still warm with his body heat. And it smelled like wood fires and spice, just like his sweater had.

He likes me wearing his clothes, a little voice whispered in the back of her head.

But that couldn’t really be it. He just wanted her to look casual, like everyone else. And he didn’t want her to have a big dry-cleaning bill if she got messy. It was very thoughtful of him, and generous to share his jacket. He was a good man. That was all.

“Are you so excited to see a corn maze, Valentina?” Zeke asked as he climbed into his booster seat in the back.

“I can’t wait,” she told him.

Tanner had walked around to the passenger door and was holding it open for her, looking like a cowboy hero in a movie.

She felt her cheeks heat as she climbed in, making sure to look anywhere but into his eyes.

Pull it together, she told herself. The man is just trying to help. You have to stop noticing how handsome he is.