The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (14 page)

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tella’s father waved at her from the second row of the bleachers. Her mother sat on one side of him and Jed on the other. She stopped in her tracks, her feet glued to the wooden steps leading up into the stands.

“Hey, you almost made me dump nachos all over you,” Char
lotte said right behind her. “What’d you stop for, anyway? Oh, now I see. I’ll sit by your mother so you don’t have to. You sit by Jed.”

Stella swallowed hard. “I’ll sit by Mama. It’s okay. It won’t kill either of us and we’ll have to face off with each other someday.”

“Someday is not today,” Charlotte said. “Get going. Our nachos are getting soggy.”

“What’s the holdup?” Boone asked from behind Charlotte.

“We’re moving,” Charlotte said.

Stella could feel every eye in the stands on her as she smiled and waved back to her father. Were they all taking bets as to whether she’d sit by her mother or the preacher? If she sat by Nancy, what wild stories would be setting the phone lines on fire later that night? If she sat beside Jed, would the gossips have a name to go on the church sign?

Charlotte was already making a beeline to sit beside Nancy, so Everett better clean up the shotgun and book the church. But who would do the services, since Jed was the preacher and it probably wasn’t legal for him to perform the ceremony for his own wedding? And could the higher powers in the church make them stand up before the pulpit and get married again, or would the courthouse license be legal enough for them? Poor man! He had no idea what trouble he’d brewed up when he decided to keep company with Everett.

“Hi, Daddy. Mama. Jed.” She nodded at each person.

“Work hard today?” Everett asked.

“Busiest day of the year. Friday’s always tough, but add that to the fireworks festival and it’s nonstop,” she answered.

“Hello, Stella.” Jed smiled.

She sat down beside him. “Hi. I understand you and my daddy have been doing some serious fishin’ this week.”

He shifted a knee over to touch hers. “We have been havin’ a really good time. You should go with us sometime.”

“Maybe I will,” she said.

Nancy leaned around Everett and touched Stella on the shoulder. “There’s enough fish in my freezer for a big fryin’. Why don’t you invite your friends and come on over Sunday evening for supper? I’ll make banana nut bread for one of the desserts.”

“And your famous cream-puff cake?” Charlotte asked.

“That would be good here in this hot weather,” Nancy said.

“Boone is bringing his catch of the week and Jed is helping me fry up the fish, so we’ll have a big crowd,” Everett said.

“How much banana bread are you making?” Stella asked.

“Enough that you can take a couple of loaves home with you.” Nancy smiled.

“Can’t beat a deal like that. I’ll get Piper to bring a pot of baked beans and I’ll make that ranch potato salad that Daddy likes,” Stella said.

That should give the gossipmongers enough to talk about for the whole weekend. She felt right smug until Rhett Monroe sat down on the other side of her and the whispers started humming like busy bees all around her.

Rhett was dressed in faded jeans, cowboy boots, and a red T-shirt and he smelled like soap and shaving lotion with just a faint bit of beer tossed in the mix. On the other side, Jed wore faded jeans, cowboy boots, and a bright blue T-shirt and he smelled like soap and Stetson with just a faint hint of nachos. The whole scenario was more than a little heady, especially when she overheard someone a couple of seats up from her wondering which one was the answer to the Thursday night prayers.

“Where’s Piper? I thought you’d all three be together,” Rhett said.

“She’s on her way,” Stella answered. “Scoot down a little way and we’ll save three seats for her and the boys.”

“There she is.” Jed’s hand brushed across Stella’s arm when he pointed. “She and the guys are over there beside the hot-dog stand.”

“There’s lots of room over on this side,” Rhett said. “You’re asking her to your dad’s fish fry on Sunday, Stella?”

Stella leaned forward and answered, “Of course we are. We’d be in the doghouse if we didn’t let her make baked beans.”

“And those two boys love to come to our place. We’ll make a freezer of home-churned ice cream and I’ll rig up the donkey wagon so they can have a ride,” Everett said.

“So it’s a date then, set in stone for Sunday night. The Yellow Rose ladies will be at the fish fry along with Boone, Rhett, and Luke and Tanner?” Jed said.

“And you and me and Nancy,” Everett said loudly.

It was her father’s grin that melted Stella’s heart. She might not be ready to forgive her mother for putting her on that damn prayer list, but she couldn’t stay mad at her forever. And her friends were right when they said that Everett missed her.

It was shaping up to be a grand night for the gossip vine. The poor phone company might need to be contacted in advance to be aware that there was a possibility the lines would burn plumb up. Stella had agreed to go to her mother’s house for Sunday supper. She was between Rhett and Jed, but Piper would have to sit on the other side of Rhett and that would really throw a wrench into the guessing game. Now they’d all wonder which woman Rhett was really interested in. By morning, the news might be that they’d had a threesome, or maybe an orgy, underneath the bleachers after the fireworks show was over.

Rhett patted the place right beside him when Piper arrived. “Saved you the best seat in the house.”

“Look, there’s Daddy,” Luke said and waved.

Stella reached around Rhett’s back, tapped Piper on the shoulder, and leaned back to tell her about the fish fry on Sunday.

“Look, Luke, he’s coming up here. Maybe he’ll sit beside us. Y’all scoot down. Daddy is waving at us. I wonder where Rita and Grandma and Grandpa are,” Tanner said.

The plot thickened further. Much more and Stella wouldn’t be a character in the story line. When Gene plopped down beside Luke and ruffled both boys’ hair, the static behind Stella buzzed with excitement.

“Hey, y’all make some room for me.” Agnes squirmed in between Nancy and Charlotte. “I didn’t miss anything, did I?”

That shoved Stella and Jed right up next to each other, shoulders, hips, and legs all touching. Heat came near to setting her on fire right there in the football stands.

“You didn’t miss anything, Miz Agnes. They haven’t started yet. Put your tote bag right down here beside our feet,” Charlotte said.

Gene patted Luke on the knee. “You can sit in my lap and Tanner can sit on Mama’s knee to make a little more room.”

“I’m not a baby,” Luke said.

Tanner shook his head. “Me, neither.”

“We’re fine down here,” Jed said. “No need for anyone to hold one of those boys. We don’t mind being scrunched, do we, Rhett?”

“Not a bit.” Rhett’s chin dimple deepened.

Agnes nudged Nancy. “I hear there’s a fish fry going on at y’all’s place Sunday night.”

“There is and you should come,” Nancy said.

“Well, thank you. What can I bring?”

“A six-pack of Coors.” Everett laughed.

“I’ll bring a case and it’ll be cold,” Agnes told him.

“Fish fry? Are we goin’, Mama?” Tanner asked. “Is Rhett coming, too? Can we bring our bats and gloves?”

“You sure can,” Rhett said. “I might even talk Boone and Jed into playing a game with us.”

“I thought you guys were coming to my place this weekend,” Gene said.

“No, Daddy, last weekend was yours. Remember, you said that you and Rita had plans so we got to stay with Grandpa and he took us fishin’. We love to go fishin’ but we love to eat ’em as well as catch ’em,” Luke reminded him.

Stella could have kissed that child. It was way past time for karma to bite Gene square on the ass and she was so glad that she got to be there when it did.

“If you ask my daddy, I bet he’ll let y’all turn the crank to help make homemade ice cream,” Stella said.

“Wow! That’s awesome.” Luke held up a hand and Tanner slapped it in a high five.

Gene shot a drop-dead look her way, but she just smiled at him. Oh, yes, Madam Karma had made a perfect entrance. It was worth sitting between the two men that her mother absolutely did not want her to be involved with just to see Gene on the hot seat.

Ethan Prescott’s voice came through the microphone and the noise level dropped to a dull roar. “Good evening, everyone. We’re
glad you could all join us tonight for the Cadillac Fireworks Fes
tival. We’ve got a fantastic show for you, but before it starts, my mother, Violet Prescott, would like to say a few words.”

“Well, dammit. She’s a perfect target up on that flatbed trailer with the lights shinin’ on her,” Agnes groaned. “And I didn’t bring my pistol. Anyone got a tomato I could throw at her? I’ve got a good pitchin’ arm.”

“Agnes!” Nancy exclaimed.

“Well, I do. And, honey, you might not know it, but sittin’ beside me will most likely cause Heather to make you give up your angel-prayin’ panties.”

Stella giggled. “Yes, Mama, you can take my name off the list now, because none of those prayin’ women are going to enlist God’s help for you since you’ve thrown in with the redheads.”

“I wish to hell—pardon me, Jed—that I’d never asked them to put your name on the list,” Nancy said.

Everett patted her on the knee. “I’ll all be over by the end of the month, darlin’.”

Violet took the microphone from her son and tapped it to be sure it was working. “Guess that you can all hear me all right?”

“We hear her too damned good. No tomatoes, anyone?” Agnes asked.

“I got a little bit of a hot dog left,” Luke said.

“And you are going to eat it,” Piper said.

“Guess y’all don’t leave me no choice.” Agnes pulled a bright red megaphone from her tote bag and stood up.

“We thank you for coming and we would like to . . .” Violet started off her speech.

Agnes turned around toward the packed bleachers and shouted into the megaphone, “Let’s hear it for the firemen who have donated their time, energy, and money into putting on this show for Cadillac. Put your hands together and stomp your feet for our Cadillac firemen.”

Folks over in Fannin County probably looked to the southwest for an approaching tornado when catcalls, yells, and applause joined the stomping that vibrated the wooden stands. Agnes worked the crowd better than any country music star Stella had ever seen. When the folks began to take their seats, she yelled into the megaphone again, “Now let’s give a big round of applause to all the vendors who’ve battled the heat and mosquitoes to make it a wonderful evening for the Cadillac citizens. Let’s hear it for the hot dogs, the funnel cakes, and all the good food.”

That round was so loud that Luke put his hands over his ears, but he was stomping just as hard as Tanner. Stella glanced over at Jed to find him laughing too hard to cheer.

“Can I have everyone’s attention? Please, qui . . . et!” Violet yelled into the microphone. “I would like to say—”

Agnes checked her watch and put the megaphone back to her mouth. “Countdown until the first blast. Ten . . . can I get a ten?”

“Ten!” the whole crowd yelled.

“Nine . . . can I get a nine?”

Nine!”

It went on until she yelled, “Blast off!”

The first rocket lit up the sky in red, white, and blue. Stomping ceased. Everyone took their seats and watched the sparkling display, one after the other, and Violet was left on the flatbed, pointing a glittering gold fingernail up toward Agnes.

Agnes tucked her megaphone back into her tote bag. “Don’t worry, Nancy, she won’t excommunicate you from the Angels until after the ball or else Everett won’t fix the barbecue.”

Everett patted his wife’s knee. “Damn straight.”

Stella nudged Jed. “You are living dangerously, sitting up here among the Baxter heathens and Agnes Flynn. You might not have a pulpit to preach from come Sunday morning. Violet might work the deacons up into a mood to fire your butt.”

“Whatever happens with this job, darlin’, I’ll trust that it’s God’s will. I survived before he called me to preach. I reckon I can find a job doin’ something else if he wants me to quit preaching. Remember, I’ve still got some acreage and an old mule up around Ravenna. We could always go to raisin’ turnip greens and hogs,” Jed whispered.

“I like turnip greens,” she whispered.

“Did you see that one, Mama? It was your colors. Pink and purple,” Luke shouted in excitement.

“Pretty, wasn’t it?” Piper hugged him. “Thank you for remembering my favorite colors.”

“I always remember. You like pink roses and the purple stuff that looks like feathers. Grandma used to send them to you for your birthday before she went to live with Jesus . . . oh, look at that one, it’s red and green like Christmas.”

Rhett tilted his head toward Stella. “Pink roses, huh?”

She nodded.

Jed nudged her from the other side. “And what’s your favorite?”

“She’s always loved yellow roses. Her favorite ones were right off the bush in our front yard. Her grandpa wanted us to name her Stella Rose because his favorite song was ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas,’ ” Everett answered. “That’s why she named her beauty shop what she did. She couldn’t very well name it Amos Moses after her grandpa.”