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

14. Valentina

14

VALENTINA

V alentina stepped out of the lobby of her apartment and into the village on Saturday morning, immediately wondering where on earth Tanner was going to park today. When she’d looked out the window earlier, things had already been bustling, but now it felt like the whole town was having a great big Christmas block party.

Most of the streets in the village were closed off for the Hometown Holiday celebration, allowing everyone to walk and mingle freely, which they absolutely were doing.

Happy, excited families shopped as they sipped hot chocolate and snacked on holiday baked goods from the tables set up outside the storefronts. Some of the tables and booths were supporting local charities, so Valentina definitely planned to indulge in some decadent treats today.

The snow from the middle of the week had been cleaned from the street and sidewalks, but still made a beautiful backdrop on the yards and grassy areas. Especially the little town amphitheater and the lawn outside the library, where children chased each other among the last of the Christmas trees the fire department was selling.

To her delight, Caroline from the library waved to her and called out her name as she passed on the other side of the street, and two other people she knew from work waved and wished her Merry Christmas.

Valentina headed across to Columbia Avenue, where Tanner stood on the steps of the Co-op, waiting for her.

“You made it,” she said, waving to him. “Where’s Zeke?”

“ Valentina ,” Zeke yelled, before Tanner could answer, darting over from where he’d been playing with a few other kids.

He ran right up to her and hugged her without hesitation, even though he was in front of his friends.

“It’s so good to see you,” she told him, hugging him back.

“My dad says I should stay with Elton and his mom while you’re in the Co-op,” he said excitedly. “But when you’re done, I can show you everything at the Hometown Holiday celebration, okay?”

“Yes,” she told him. “Definitely. I can’t wait.”

“Me neither,” he said.

She watched after him fondly as he ran after his friend, and noticed the mom giving Tanner a quick wave back to let him know Zeke was in good hands.

“Ready?” Tanner asked .

She turned to tell him that she was, but was arrested by the look of real affection in his eyes.

Has he been thinking about me too?

“Yes,” she said, willing herself not to blush. “Let’s go.”

The Co-op was fairly full, in spite of the big event outside. Plenty of people were sitting at the small cafe tables by the big window, looking out at the snowy ground and celebration. Others were grabbing a pair of gloves or a scarf from the shelf where local artisans’ wares were displayed.

“Where do we start?” Tanner asked.

“Let’s head over to produce,” Valentina suggested.

Thankfully, the grocery areas of the store weren’t overly crowded. A worker was placing beautiful red and green bell peppers in the refrigerated section of the produce aisle as they arrived. He was a young guy, but he worked with care. She noticed the name Seth on his tag.

“Hi,” Valentina said with a smile. “Those look delicious.”

“Thanks,” Seth replied. “Everyone loves them.”

“I’ll bet not many go to waste,” Valentina said carefully.

“No way,” Seth said, laughing. “We generally run out after a day or so and people sort of complain.”

“The farmer has too many other contracts to give the Co-op enough,” Valentina guessed, shaking her head.

“That’s actually not it,” Seth said, putting down a tomato before leaning against the display to talk. “They’re local and they have a greenhouse. They’d love to sell us more. But you can see we just don’t have that much shelf space.”

“Could you expand into the eating area?” Valentina asked.

“I mean, people love eating here and it’s good for our deli,” Seth explained. “We have a little more mark-up on prepared deli items, so it helps us cover losses on other things.”

“Wow,” Valentina said. “There really is a lot going on here.”

“Plus, if we added more refrigerator units, we’d have to pay for them and maintain them,” he said. “And the power costs a lot too. The tables are cheap compared to the income we get on them. It allows us to keep prices down on staples.”

“Seth, you know a lot about how the store works,” Valentina said, honestly impressed.

“I’m a member, too,” he said, smiling and looking pleased. “And I joined the board last year.”

“They’re lucky to have you,” Valentina told him. “Thanks for talking with me.”

“You work for Mr. Radcliffe, right?” Seth asked.

“I sure do,” she said. “I’m Valentina.”

“Seth,” he replied. “Nice to meet you. Your boss is a good guy. I think we all misjudged him a little at first.”

“I’ll tell him you said so, Seth,” she said, offering him her hand to shake before she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to do that.

But Seth took her hand and shook it firmly, looking delighted. They moved along and Seth went back to placing peppers on the display.

“That was amazing,” Tanner told her.

She thought he might be teasing, but she glanced up and saw by the look on his face that he was really impressed.

“Well, we got really lucky,” she told him. “What are the chances that the guy stocking bell peppers is on the board?”

“Around here?” Tanner asked. “Pretty good, actually. A lot of us are passionate about the Co-op. Having our own grocery store is a big deal in a little town like this.”

“You’re right,” she realized out loud. “My dad always says a job you don’t get paid to do is the most rewarding kind. I think I’m starting to finally understand what he was talking about.”

“Your dad sounds like a pretty smart guy,” Tanner said. “I think I’m going to like him.”

She tried her best not to think about how much she wanted to introduce Tanner to her parents, and they continued their slow tour of the store. As Valentina paid attention to which items were stocked and where the empty shelves were, an idea began to form in her mind.

Of course, her brainstorming was interrupted several times as shoppers stopped Tanner to say hello and ask about Zeke and the rest of his family. But she found that she didn’t mind a bit. There was nothing nicer than seeing how the people in this little community cared about each other.

When they reached the far rear corner of the store, a bulletin board caught her eye. A simple flyer advertised a variety of outdoor activities, including camping, over at the Williams Homestead.

“Hey,” she said to Tanner. “Isn’t that your aunt and uncle’s place?”

“It is,” he told her.

“Caroline tells me about the projects they’re doing over there all the time,” Valentina said thoughtfully.

“We should definitely go visit,” Tanner said. “It’s slow going over there right now, but what they’ve got so far is really wonderful.”

“That sounds great,” she told him, making the mistake of looking up into his eyes.

There was longing in his gaze now that was impossible to miss. His jaw was tight, like it was taking everything he had not to do whatever it was he wanted to do when he looked at her.

Valentina felt that pull she’d felt the other night all over again—like she was about to fall right into him, her heart pounding loudly enough for them to hear it over at the amphitheater.

“We should probably go find Zeke,” Tanner bit out, tearing his gaze from hers. “Before he runs Elton’s mom ragged.”

“Absolutely,” she said, still feeling a little breathless.

She wondered for a second if maybe she was imagining things—mooning over him when he didn’t feel the same.

Then she felt the warmth of his hand at the small of her back and her heart flip-flopped in her chest.

What is happening to me?