The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (8 page)

Agnes blew on a piece of fish and waited for it to cool. “Looks to me like them stupid hussies might as well just round up all the unmarried women like cattle and slap a brand on their asses. I’d ask for your pardon, Jed, but I really don’t give a shit what you think of my language. But I’m here to tell you three girls that I’ll need bodyguards to keep Violet from killin’ me at that barn dance. She’ll be all up in the middle of this ball since her niece is ringleading the new wedding preacher shit.”

“Well, you can bet your sweet southern ass I’m not going to be a part of such shenanigans,” Everett said.

“But Daddy, you make the best barbecue in the whole state and you know Mama has probably already volunteered you to do all the smokin’,” Stella said.

Everett’s eyebrows drew down in one heavy line across his green eyes. “I’ll smoke the brisket if I can tear that damned sign down and use the wood for the fire.”

Stella gasped. “It’d taste like shit, Daddy. You have to have your special wood to make good barbecue.”

“I’ll go without a fuss if you’re doin’ the cookin’,” Boone said. “Only thing I like better than fish is your smoked brisket and turkey. Oh, and your chicken and pork loin, too.”

“You might as well suck it up, Everett. Nancy won’t give you a minute’s peace if you refuse to cook. Smart thing to do is to volunteer before she can tell you that you are going to do it. That way you win and them women lose,” Agnes said.

“Well, I’m damn sure not gettin’ all dressed up. If I can’t go in my jeans or overalls, I ain’t goin’,” Everett declared.

“Mama,” Luke piped up. “Me and Tanner was wonderin’ if we could invite Brother Jed to come to supper at our house tomorrow night? We want to show him our train set. I bet he’d just love to play with it.”

“Sorry, boys,” Everett said. “You’ll have to take Jed home with you another night. Tomorrow night me and him are goin’ fishin’.”

“Well, rats! When me and Tanner get big enough, will you take us fishin’ at night?” Luke asked.

Everett chuckled. “I sure will, but you got to be bigger than ol’ Roy. He’s the biggest, meanest old catfish in the Red River and if you was to fall over the edge of the boat, why, he might get a hold of the seat of your britches and haul you all the way to the ocean before he let go of you.”

Luke’s eyes were so big that the pupils were completely outlined in white. He brushed back a lock of light-brown hair from his sweaty forehead. “I heard about ol’ Roy. My grandpa told me that he’s older than God.”

“That’s pretty old,” Jed said.

Tanner nodded seriously. “Grandpa—he knows them things.”

Charlotte bumped Stella with her knee. “See, the boys like Jed. It’s one of those made-in-heaven matches. We’ll focus on Piper rather than finding you a husband and you can just keep having sex with your truck driver. We can tell Heather that her prayers landed on Piper instead of you. After all, we do own the Yellow Rose all together. It’s not just your beauty shop.”

“Hey, guys, I’d love to see your train set,” Rhett said.

“Really?” Luke asked.

“You any good at baseball?” Tanner asked.

“Well, I played when I went to college and they let me pitch.”

“Well, we don’t go to Grandma’s tomorrow and Mama don’t have to work, so I reckon you could come see us about six o’clock,” Tanner said.

Charlotte poked Stella and whispered, “Did you hear that?”

“I did but I’m not believing it.”

“Mama, can Rhett come over and teach us about baseball tomorrow evening?” Luke asked.

Piper smiled at Stella before she nodded at Rhett. “Sure, he can. Don’t eat supper before you come, Rhett. We’ll grill some hot dogs and make it a real baseball game.”

Agnes dropped Stella at her house and said, “Don’t worry. We’ll fix it up so that this will be the last year they have a barbecue ball. It does sound like a
Duck Dynasty
thing. Got to admit, I do watch that show. I love it when Si gets the best of them younger boys. And when Mama Kay starts cookin’, my mouth just waters.”

“I hope that it’s a big flop and no one but us four shows up,” Stella said.

“Oh, I want a lot of people there so they can see Heather and this damn silly idea of hers bite the dust. What do you think of Rhett going over to Piper’s place tomorrow night? That upset you or do you think he’s just going because she’s your best friend and he wants some advice about how to handle a red-haired spitfire?”

“Agnes Flynn, you are nosy. I think Rhett gets a bad rap because he dates so many women, but there’s nothing wrong with that, is there? But between us, I’m not seeing him or interested in him.”

“Well, shit! I just knew he was the one. You been as jittery as a worm in hot ashes all night. Still, you might forewarn Piper, because she’s of the opinion that he’s coming over to get on your good side. I still think it would be downright hilarious if you went out with the preacher, if it was only one time. Heather would shit her pants without a bit of my dosed-up fudge to help her along.”

Stella’s laughter set Agnes off and before long they were both wiping at their eyes.

“I’d forgotten that you dosed up some fudge with laxative and gave it to Violet last year,” Stella said between hiccups.

Agnes nodded. “And I’ll do it again if she gets out of hand. You want me to sit here until you get inside?”

“No. I’m a big girl and I’m so mad about all this barbecue ball stuff and prayin’ shit that I just dare anyone to cross me,” Stella said.

“That’s my girl. Us redheads, we do have a temper. See you later.”

Stella waved as she got out of the truck. “Thanks for the tea and the ride.”

“Thanks for a fun evening. It was fun to get out with a bunch of young kids like y’all,” Agnes yelled out the open window as she backed out of the driveway.

Stella pulled her keys from the pocket of her shorts and reached around the door to flip the light switch. A big hand covered hers and a deep voice said, “We don’t need the lights, darlin’. Just take my hand and let me lead you to the bathroom. I’m thinkin’ that we could both use a nice long bath in that claw-footed tub of yours.”

“But Charlotte and Piper have keys . . .” she argued as she followed Jed down the short hall.

“They are both too busy to come here tonight,” Jed whispered. “Charlotte and Boone could hardly keep their hands off each other all evening. And Piper will be home planning a ball game tomorrow night.”

He swung the door open to the cool bathroom. Two jar candles, one on the back of the potty and one on the floor beside the tub, provided enough light that she could see the sparkle in his blue eyes and also that he was stark naked. Rose petals floated on the bathwater. The steam carried the scent of vanilla along with the faint aroma of roses to her nose.

He pulled the tank top out of the top of her shorts and slowly brought it over her head, stopping to kiss her before he unzipped her shorts and tugged them down to her ankles.

Underpants, bra, and shoes all went into a pile with the rest of her clothing. And then he picked her up and slowly submerged her up to her breasts in the deep tub. He slipped in behind her and picked up a sponge, squeezing water down over her back.

“That feels so good,” she murmured. “But”—she twisted around so she could look into his eyes—“I just about stood up on the table and told them all that we were married tonight so Charlotte would stop trying to do some matchmaking between you and Piper. And yes, I was jealous.”

“I didn’t notice Charlotte as much as I did Piper’s boys. They’re just little boys and they don’t cover their tricks up so well.” He chuckled.

“Hey, Stella! Where are you?” Charlotte’s voice rang out from the living room.

Stella jumped but he wrapped his arms around her, making a shelf for her breasts. “Tell her you are in the tub. She won’t come in here,” he whispered.

His warm breath caused more shivers.

“I’m in the tub. You stayin’ here tonight?” Stella called out.

“Oh, no! Boone is all mine tonight, darlin’. He’s waiting in the truck. I’m just bringing some leftover fish for your dinner tomorrow. Want me to put it in the fridge?”

“No, just leave it on the bar. I might want some before I go to bed,” Stella yelled back. “Lock the door on your way out.”

“Will do. See you Tuesday.”

Jed pulled her hair loose from the braid, picked up a cup from the floor, and poured water through it. “Plannin’ on workin’ up an appetite, are you?”

“We always do.”

C
HAPTER
S
IX

H
eather and half a dozen of her most devout Angels met on the front porch of Ruby’s Beauty Shop and set up for the bake sale just after daylight on Monday morning. According to Heather, folks came early to a bake sale so they wouldn’t have to cook breakfast. Heather opened up a leather-bound notebook embossed with gold angel wings, and between customers they wrote down ideas for the ball. Heather, God love her heart, had never lived in a small town before Cadillac and thought she was keeping everything between the covers of her fancy little book. But nothing was ever a secret more than five minutes in Cadillac. If all the gossips died and were buried in the Cadillac cemetery, they’d figure out a way to tell tales from the graves.

Heather was sitting in a cute little fold-out chair with a cup pocket on the side, her gold fingernail sparkling in the morning sun, when Nancy brought six loaves of banana bread and two dozen chocolate chip cookies to the sale.

“How is it going?” Nancy asked.

Heather pointed her brand-new gold fingernail at Nancy. “Today begins my marriage ministry in earnest and I’m so happy. By the end of the summer your daughter will be married and submitting to the will of her husband and I will be on my way to becoming the first marriage minister in history. It’s so exciting that I can hardly take it all in.”

“I can’t see Stella submitting to anyone or leaving Cadillac, either, if that’s what you’ve got in mind,” Nancy said.

“Oh, she will, believe me. I never thought I’d submit to moving out of my precious big city and into this podunk town. I just came for a visit to my sweet little aunt Violet. She introduced me to Quinn and I fell in love. Now I see that it was God’s plan for me to move here to help women like Stella find her place in God’s will. And if that requires that she move away from Cadillac, then so be it.”

Nancy exhaled slowly. “You’ve picked out a name for the ball and you said you were ordering posters to put up all over the county. I talked to Everett last night and he’s willing to cook the meat. The Fannin sisters called me and they’ll help me prepare the rest of the food and help serve it. I was thinking maybe the admission to get into the ball would be a covered dish.”

Heather shook her head. “But if we don’t charge admission, then we won’t make enough to begin an account for the marriage ministry. To further my ministry, I’ll need to be able to cover expenses like having a website and office supplies. We’ll have to charge an entry fee but we’ll make it worthwhile. For their ticket, they get supper, a partner, and dancing for the evening. Oh, and I heard a story that Stella is pregnant and it’s a girl. Congratulations, Nancy, you’re having a granddaughter, but now we have to pray harder that the man will come forward and marry her, don’t we?”

Nancy put up both palms. “My daughter is not pregnant. That is a nasty rumor because her best friend knits baby things and don’t you be spreading it around.”

Heather smiled but it did not reach her eyes. “Oh, honey, I never spread gossip. It would be unbecoming to a marriage minister.”

Trixie Matthews dashed across the street and picked up a loaf of Nancy’s banana bread. “Agnes said y’all was plannin’ a big barbecue ball out in one of Miz Violet’s barns. Sounds like fun. I haven’t had an excuse to wear a pretty formal since my senior prom. I just love those new fancy dresses with the halter straps and all that bling all over them. Here’s five dollars. Y’all keep the change since it’s going to a good cause. Even if no one gets married, we’ll love having a barn dance.”

“It’s a ball, not a barn dance,” Heather snapped.

“Whatever.” Trixie grinned.

As soon as Trixie was gone, Heather rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and sighed so heavy that she snorted. “Damn that Agnes. She’s going to be trouble. As God is my witness, she will be a nightmare. My sweet little aunt Violet warned me that she might try to sabotage my ministry.”

“What on earth could Agnes do? It’s your party at your aunt’s house,” Nancy asked.

Heather giggled and waved her fingernail around excitedly. “You are so right. It’s going to be a grand debut, my first big event in Cadillac. I’m so glad that you put Stella on the prayer list and helped me to realize my true service is in creating happy marriages.”

A feeling akin to icy water being trickled down Nancy’s back chilled her to the bone. All she’d wanted was a few prayers and God’s help to get her a son-in-law so she could have a grandbaby. She really hadn’t realized she’d fire the first shot for another war in Cadillac when she marched into the Angels’ meeting four days before. But the battle had started and there was nothing left to do but see it to the end. She’d just have to trust Agnes to help her throw a wrench in the barbecue ball.

If it had been for anything other than to get her married off, Stella would have stopped by the bake sale and bought a loaf of her mother’s banana bread to nibble on as she cleaned the shop. But there was no way she’d help finance that endeavor, not in a million years.

She, Charlotte, and Piper rotated turns cleaning the shop. It wasn’t set in stone. If Piper had something she had to do with her boys, then Stella or Charlotte traded with her. If Charlotte had to go to a bridal fair, then someone swapped with her. It all worked out in the end and they managed to keep from having to hire extra help.

She’d just finished folding the last load of towels when the front door opened and her father, Everett, waltzed in with two cold bottles of beer, dripping with water where he’d just taken them out of the cooler.

“Thought you might need something to cool you off,” Everett said.

“Have a seat, and thank you, Daddy! I just finished getting this place in order and a beer is just what I need. What are you out doing today?”

“Tryin’ to stay away from my gun safe so I’m not tempted to shoot a bunch of angels. Don’t know why they’d call them meddling women angels.” Everett sat down in one of the chairs around the table and twisted the top off the beer bottle before he handed it to her.

Stella pulled out a chair and settled in across from him. She took several long gulps before she came up for air. “Tastes better than I thought it would. You can’t shoot them, Daddy. That would be too easy. Agnes and I will take care of it, I promise.”

“I just get so damned mad at the way your mama does all the work for everything. Used to be if Violet Prescott wanted some glory she called on your mama to be part of a committee of some damn kind, and now it’s that new woman, Heather. I hear she’s Violet’s niece and is just as bossy as that old bitch.”

“Have you told Mama how you feel?”

“Honey, we wore this fight threadbare when you was just a little girl. We’d fight and it’d be hell to pay around the house for a few days and then we’d get over it until Violet wanted your mother to work her ass off on another project that Violet would take credit for doing,” Everett said.

“But Mama has always been better friends with Agnes than she is with Violet. She can’t stand Violet,” Stella said.

“I know that, but if it’s something for the church like dyein’ Eas
ter eggs or servin’ dinner for anything from funerals to Sunday school meetings, it was your mama who did the work. She’d tell me that it was for the church and she couldn’t say no to something for the church.” Everett finished his beer and tossed the bottle into the metal trash can. It rattled around, the sound echoing off the walls for several seconds before it settled to the bottom. “I’m going fishin’ with Jed. Maybe floatin’ down the river with a preacher will keep me from doin’ something that ain’t right. I kind of like that feller. He’s all right for a preacher. He ain’t all pompous and holier-than-thou and he don’t preach at me when we’re talkin’. He’s just a good old regular feller.”

Stella swallowed fast to keep from spitting beer across the room. “I’m glad you’ve found a new friend. Don’t worry about the Angels, Daddy. When they all learn that their barbecue ball is just a party and not a matchmaking club, it’ll blow over and maybe Mama will see what you’ve been tryin’ to tell her all along. Agnes says it’s not going to be an annual affair, that she’ll make sure of it. So all we got to do is weather this storm. You know there’s sunshine back in behind most storms.”

Everett chuckled as he hoisted himself out of the chair. “Who are you preachin’ at, darlin’, me or you?”

Stella held out her hand and he pulled her up. “Mostly to myself, if I’m honest.”

“Well, it’s a damn good thing that you know that, and don’t you say that matchmaking club idea out loud ever again. They’ll start drawing up the constitution and bylaws for one and invite Nancy to be the chairman of the board or some such shit. Them old women need to leave you young girls alone and let y’all decide what to do with your lives. Hell, both your grandmas would roll over in their graves if they knew what was going on here. They fought like pit bulls for women’s rights and now this bunch thinks they can go back to the caveman days and do them prearranged marriage things with a side order of brisket. Dammit! I’m goin’ fishin’ before I get riled up.” Everett started for the door but then turned around and came back to hug his daughter. At well over six feet tall, he had to bend to wrap her up in a bear hug. “I ain’t about to let your mama’s doin’s keep me from seein’ you, kiddo. I’ll pop in and out and bring you a beer.”

“Thanks, Daddy,” Stella said.

He waved over his shoulder and hollered, “See you at the football field on Friday for the Fourth of July celebration if I don’t see you before then. We can share a funnel cake like we always do.”

Charlotte purred like a kitten as she rolled over and wrapped her arms around Boone that morning. Her eyes flew open when she realized that all she had was a handful of feather pillow, but then she smelled the coffee and smiled. Boone was making his famous straight-from-the-can cinnamon rolls. She shut her eyes so she’d be surprised when he brought the tray to the bed. Her hand touched something that felt like paper so she peeked over the pillow and there was a note attached with a safety pin:
Sorry, darlin’. Thought I had the day off but I have to go in after all. One of the other firemen came down with the flu and it’s my rotation for overtime. Coffee is made. Love, Boone.

Charlotte moaned, pulled the covers over her head, and whined. Now that all her Monday plans had been shot to hell, she might as well go on to the shop and help Stella clean up. She could work on that knitted baby blanket she’d started the week before or finish reading that new cowboy romance by Joanne Kennedy, but neither one sounded as good as gossiping with Stella.

Maybe after they cleaned the shop they could get some lunch at Clawdy’s and then run up to Sherman and shop. It would be the perfect day to try on dresses for the barbecue ball Agnes said they had to attend. Truth was that she’d love to get dressed up all pretty for Boone and spend a few hours in his arms on the dance floor.

She slipped a hand out from under the covers and searched for her cell phone on the nightstand. When she found it, she hit the speed dial number for Piper.

“Good morning?” Piper answered.

“I’m going to help Stella clean the shop and talk her into lunch at Clawdy’s and then having an afternoon in Sherman to try on dresses for this ball that Heather is planning. You should come with us.”