A Town Called Valentine: A Valentine Valley Novel (29 page)

“Monica?” Nate echoed, looking way too curious.

Emily found them all staring at her with interest, especially Nate. She wanted to make up something, but he was looking at her with such sweet intent, so concerned for her. He’d shared everything about himself with her. She found herself blurting, “Monica thinks I should open a bakery.”

Nate’s eyes went wide with surprise. She couldn’t look away.

Joe and Faith spoke over each other. “Great idea!” “We could use a bakery in Valentine.”

“It’s . . . silly,” Emily said at last, her appetite gone as she stared down at her half-eaten pork. Even she had to question why she was so reluctant to consider the idea, when her subconscious couldn’t seem to let it go. “My life is in San Francisco. I’d love it if you’d all come to visit me soon.”

“But what are you going to do there?” Stephanie asked.

Emily lifted her chin and didn’t look at Nate, reciting the words she’d kept telling herself for the last few months. “I’m going back to college with the money I’ll make from selling my building. I need to find the career that’s right for me. You’re going to college, right?” she asked, hoping for some kind of connection with her new little sister.

But Stephanie looked at her as if Emily were an elderly woman with no business joining the young people. Emily sighed.

N
ate drove her home and remained silent for the ten minutes it took to drive off the Sweetheart Ranch and back into town. Emily kept twisting her fingers together, wondering what he was thinking. He didn’t seem angry or sad or . . . anything. Whereas she was a jumble of emotions, and suddenly so tired of thinking.

He followed her upstairs to her apartment. When she went to get him a beer, he caught her arm.

“Emily, talk to me.”

For a moment she stared at his hand, then up into his face. His concern eased something inside her, and she knew he only wanted what was best for her.

Softly, he asked, “Are you going to run away from Valentine Valley, just like your mother did?”

She caught her breath, wanting to deny it, but suddenly knowing she couldn’t.

“Please tell me you’re not running away from me,” he continued hoarsely. “I know from the beginning we talked about ending things, but I’ve changed my mind.”

Slowly she said, “I swear, this isn’t just about you, Nate. It seems I’ve spent my whole life trying not to be my mother. Maybe—maybe I’ve been trying to
prove
it, first with my marriage, and now—now with this need to start my life over. I think—I think I’m more like her than I imagined, taking too many risks.”

“Is that so bad?” Nate asked earnestly. “She made mistakes, some bad ones, but you won’t do the same.”

“I chose Greg, didn’t I?” she shot back.

“You chose him as a young girl in college. You’re not that girl anymore. You take smart risks now, coming here to restart your life, when you could have played it safe in San Francisco.”

“My mom struck out on her own, leaving everything behind,” Emily whispered. “She never thought anything through, and I was trying to be so careful to be different from her. She jumped from relationship to relationship, taking such terrible chances. I can’t accuse myself of that,” she said wryly, “not with two men in a decade.”

“See, you’ve learned from her mistakes.”

“Yet maybe I missed the point. I didn’t
want
to take chances. I wanted movies, where you wanted whitewater rafting. I resisted anything scary you tried to tempt me with.”
I resisted falling in love with you,
she thought, knowing it was too late. “I was trying to be so independent, thinking that if I stood on my own, I couldn’t get hurt again. You were the perfect partner in crime for me, asking nothing of me, promising that both of us would remain unscathed, the same as always.”

He took her face between his hands. “I’m asking now, Em. Stay. Give us a chance to see what we have. Give Valentine a chance.”

Valentine Valley was the town of her dreams, where families were interconnected, where everyone knew each other, where love was renewed—or begun. Had the romantic spell of Valentine really woven itself about her?

Perhaps the biggest risk she would ever take was staying right here, getting to know her new family, and trying to be her own woman—her own boss, she thought, thinking with new excitement about the bakery. How could she call herself an independent woman if she left town because she was afraid of being hurt again? Could she start her own business with the talents she’d been given, or the ones she’d inherited?

“If you leave here,” Nate said, “you’ll just be another lonely person in a big city.”

She thought of Melissa and felt again the woman’s pain.

“People know you here—
I
know you,” he continued quietly. “You could have a life here.”

She took a deep breath. “With you?”

Nate was the biggest risk of all, standing there patiently waiting for her to make the move. There was a new openness to him, as if he was finally ready to take chances, if she would let him. He had discovered long ago what he was meant to do with his life. He had a quiet confidence, a belief in himself and his town, and mostly in his family.

Did he want
her
to be part of his family?

He thought he had everything together—but he needed her, she knew. She saw things about him he’d never known about himself. And he was part of Valentine Valley, too. She’d been fighting being a part of it from the beginning.

“I love you, Emily,” he whispered, cupping her face, kissing her gently. “I’ll never hurt you.”

She stared up into his eyes, and everything fell into place, as if her journey here had taught her, brought her to this moment. “I love you, too.”

And then she was crying and smiling and kissing him. He let out a whoop and twirled her around.

“Okay, okay,” she said, when at last she was safely on the ground. “I’ll stay and give this place a try.”

“So you’ll open this mysterious bakery you’ve never mentioned to me?”

“I guess you’ll have to get over the loss of Leather and Lace.”

“But what will you bring on our honeymoon?”

She stared up into his beloved face, no longer the lonely, sad woman she’d been on her first rainy night in Valentine. She’d found a new strength inside her, and she would use it to love Nate as he deserved.

“On the honeymoon? Why, I don’t plan to wear anything at all.”

They shared a grin.

Epilogue

I
n autumn, colorful leaves swirling through brisk air, Emily’s bakery, Sugar and Spice, had its opening day. A long glass display case ran the length of the room, and a second glass cooler for her cheesecakes and other refrigerated goodies stood perpendicular to it. She already had orders to bake for two engagements and a baby shower.

Now she stood behind the glass counter where the bar had once been, staring with quiet joy at all the people who’d come to wish her well. Monica and Brooke were still arranging the flowers that bloomed at every little table in the coffee corner, while Josh set out the leather key rings he’d tooled with her cupcake logo for the first day’s customers. The widows had asked to help out, and they were her new part-time employees, wearing matching aprons they’d designed themselves with the logo
ASK US WHY WE’RE SUGAR AND SPICE
. They kept “forgetting” to take them off whenever they went to lunch or dinner.

Nate was the first one to see that she’d come out of the kitchen, and the smile he gave her made tears spring to her eyes.

“Em, come show them!” he called.

There was a general cry of delight when Nate dragged her forward by the hand so they could all see her lovely pear-cut diamond engagement ring.

Her sister Stephanie gaped at it, then at her. “Oh my God, it’s beautiful!”

Emily smiled at her little sister. “You better get used to it. Your job as maid of honor will be to polish it every time you see me.”

Stephanie blushed and laughed, glancing at her parents, who beamed back at her. After a slow start, Emily was making progress becoming friends with her teenage sister. Joe wiped his eyes with a hankie when he thought no one was looking, and his mom, Eileen, covered her trembling smile.

Emily slipped her arm through her father’s. “Dad, you’ll walk me down the aisle, won’t you?” It was the first time she’d called him that, and it felt right.

That set up another chorus of “awws” until Grandma Thalberg pulled her away.

“Emily, you’ll never guess! The Valentine Valley Preservation Fund committee has agreed to set aside some money to help Leather and Lace open their store after all—but don’t tell Nate!”

Emily laughed. “Oh, Grandma, he already knows. Don’t breathe a word, but he’s become a long-distance customer. Aren’t I the luckiest woman in the world?”

Acknowledgments

I’m indebted to Virginia Aubertine, James Callen IV, Jeffery McClanahan, Maggie Shayne, and Christine Wenger, who graciously answered my research questions. Any mistakes are certainly my own.
A Town Called Valentine
wouldn’t have existed without the Packeteers and the Purples, who helped me in so many ways, from brainstorming, to emergency meetings, to the overwhelming generosity of their friendship. To my husband, Jim, for making sure I have everything I need, especially him.

To my agent, Eileen Fallon, who has believed in me for so many years. There are no words to express how much your dedication and friendship have meant to me.

And thanks to my editor, Amanda Bergeron, for falling in love with Valentine Valley and giving me all the support, advice, and editorial skills an author could ever want.