The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (17 page)

Stella picked up a grape and popped it in her mouth.

Piper poked her on the arm. “You are awfully quiet.”

“Just thinking about what Charlotte said.”

“Which time?” Charlotte asked.

“That a woman doesn’t change at our age.”

“Drink some more wine. Get drunk and tell us who your boyfriend is and then we’ll tell you how much change is needed. You plannin’ on putting in a beer joint next door to the Yellow Rose or maybe a house of ill repute? I suppose that would require that you change a whole lot.” Piper giggled.

“Maybe I’m going to marry a preacher and lead the choir at church,” Stella said.

“Yeah, when pigs fly. You’d never, ever in a million years be a preacher’s wife, especially in Cadillac.” Charlotte giggled.

“I might be,” Stella said.

Piper leaned back and studied her. “Don’t tease us, girl. I don’t see you married to Darla Jean. You never have shown signs of that persuasion and neither has she. And Jed ain’t your type.”

“Maybe he’s not from Cadillac?” Stella said.

“Naw.” Charlotte shook her head. “After that shit with the preacher’s son, you said you’d never, ever get tangled up with any form of religious man again. That bad experience done broke you from suckin’ eggs, girlfriend, so we ain’t buyin’ that brand of bullshit, as Agnes says.”

“Okay, enough talk of preachers and their worthless sons. Charlotte, what you have is bride’s jitters and not fear,” Piper said.

Charlotte raised her glass. “Amen, sister.”

Crystal glasses touched and Piper said, “To friendship. It has survived puberty, marriage, childbearing, PMS, and pure old bitchiness. There’s nothing that can knock it down. Not scumbag husbands or bride jitters or a few secrets that we didn’t or won’t tell.”

Stella smiled. “Yes, ma’am. You covered it all. And now it’s on to a massage, a mani-pedi, and a shampoo and styling. Then we’re dressing for dinner and drinking the night away in the hotel bar.”

C
HAPTER
T
WELVE

N
ancy met Stella at the door and wrapped her arms around her in a fierce embrace. “I’m sorry for putting your name on that list and creating this whirlwind of a mess. I told Heather to take it off but she’d already gotten bit by this damn marriage ministry bug and wouldn’t do it. I want you to know I had nothing to do with that sign or the one about a prayerathon that’s going up this week for a stupid thing they are having on Sunday, which I will not be attending.”

“Oh, yes, you will.” Stella hugged her mother back, relief flooding through her. How in the holy hell had she managed to survive without her mother in her life? Sure, she had a healthy dose of anger to feed upon, but it didn’t satisfy a daughter like a hug from her mama. “I still need a snitch inside the camp.”

“Agnes told you?” Nancy whispered.

“Yes, she did, and if I don’t sabotage this crappy idea of a barbecue ball, she’s going to make me dye my hair black.”

Nancy stepped back, reached out, and touched Stella’s hair. “Why would she do that?”

“I have to earn the right to be a sassy redhead and this is my first test to see if I can handle the responsibility,” Stella answered.

Nancy’s laughter bounced off the walls and echoed through the house. “If we could buy Heather for what she’s worth and sell her for what she thinks she’s worth, we’d be rich as Midas.”

Stella led the way to the kitchen. “It’s just three more weeks, Mama, and we’ll take her down. Doesn’t she realize that we like Cadillac just the way it is and we don’t want an opera house on Main Street?”

“A grocery store would be nice, though, wouldn’t it?” Nancy said. “Oh, no! Agnes probably won’t be able to go to the ball and the only reason she was going was so y’all would. Now what?”

“We’re going, Mama. I wouldn’t look good with black hair like Heather’s,” Stella said. “Just promise me that you’ll be there.”

“We’ve given our word that we’ll provide the barbecue. And, honey, if you want to be an old maid, then promise me you’ll at least get a cat or dog so I can have grandcats or granddogs,” Nancy said.

“And what would that make you . . . a grandpussy or a grandbitch?”

Nancy laughed harder than before. “A dog, please, then. I’d rather be a grandbitch. I can’t wait to tell your daddy what you said. But not now. Preacher Jed is already out in the backyard, so we’ll keep that joke between us until he leaves. And your daddy likes him so well that he said next week he’d sit on the front pew. I was shocked beyond words.”

“He really does like Jed, doesn’t he?”

“Yes, he does. So how was the spa?” Nancy asked.

“Oh, Mama, I’ll take you for Christmas. You’ll love it,” Stella said.

Nancy’s eyes twinkled. “If I don’t put you on the prayer list again?”

“Maybe I’ll put you on it. They can pray that I get just the right puppy,” Stella told her.

“We’d better go join the crowd accumulatin’ in the backyard. Piper and her boys arrived a little while ago. Rhett came with Boone and Charlotte. I was about to give up on you. I’m so glad that we’re good again. I missed you,” Nancy said.

“Me, too. Now where’s my banana bread?” Stella’s throat closed off with a lump as big as a grapefruit. Damn that Heather, anyway, for coming between her and her mama.

It wasn’t all Heather’s fault.
Agnes’s voice was so clear in her head that she looked over her shoulder to see if the old gal was right behind her.
It was your anger and your mama’s stubbornness that kept the fires fueled. Nancy wants a grandbaby before she’s too damned old to enjoy it. And you want total acceptance in this town. Suck it up, buttercup. You probably ain’t goin’ to get that, so be happy with what you’ve got today.

Nancy popped her on the fanny. “Get on outside with your friends. You have to eat your supper before you get dessert. And don’t flirt with the preacher, neither. Just because you and him are both here as fifth wheels don’t mean that I want a grandchild from him. I’d rather have the puppy as that.”

“I thought you liked Jed.”

“I do, but you know what they say about preacher’s kids. They’re the orneriest kids that ever lived and I want a sweet little grandbaby, not a hellion. I done already raised one red-haired spitfire and that’s enough,” Nancy told her.

Stella could tell that the incident from her sophomore year passed through Nancy’s head but she didn’t mention it. Back when the rumors started and Stella came home crying about the way she’d been treated at school, Nancy had told her to hold her head up high and not let anyone take her dignity. And then she’d said that they would forget what happened and never mention that boy’s name again.

Rhett had traded his signature tight-fitting jeans for loose khaki shorts, his cowboy boots for sandals, and his western-cut shirt for a three-button knit the same color as his dark-brown eyes. He kept up with two Frisbees flying at him from Luke and Tanner, laughing and joking with them the whole time.

Piper sat in a lawn chair and watched. She’d worn cutoff jean shorts, a flowing gauze shirt with swirls of bright blue and hot pink, and flip-flops that evening. She was glad for the shade trees in Nancy and Everett’s backyard and the cool breeze that barely ruffled the tree leaves.

Charlotte brought a couple of those church fans out of her purse and handed one to Piper. “When I was a little girl, I wondered why they put Jesus on one side of these things and a funeral home advertisement on the other side. Sitting out here in this god-awful heat I’ve figured it out.”

“It’s to remind you that if you haven’t done something about your soul by the time you die, you’re goin’ somewhere seven times hotter than this, right?” Piper asked.

Charlotte stirred the air with the fan. “You got it. There’s Stella. Looks like she and Nancy made up.”

“Now how do you know that? Stella is by herself,” Piper asked.

“It’s the look on her face. She doesn’t look like she could chew up railroad ties and spit out Tinkertoys. She absolutely looks happy,” Charlotte answered.

“I hope you are right. Praise the Lord, and I mean that from the depths of my heart. I hate it when they argue. I love them both,” Piper said.

“Hey, you boys ready to do some serious ice-cream makin’?” Everett called out.

Both boys dropped their Frisbees and ran toward the back of the yard with Rhett right behind them. He shot a wink toward Piper on the way and high color filled her cheeks.

Stella and Nancy each pulled a chair close to Piper and Charlotte, creating a semicircle. Before anyone could say a word, Everett yelled, “We’re puttin’ on music to turn the crank by. We’re listenin’ to Collin Raye here first.”

“My Kind of Girl” reverberated off the trees and Boone grabbed Charlotte by the hand and danced around the yard with her while singing at the top of his lungs. The lyrics said that he asked her if she’d like some music and she asked if he had any Merle, and that’s when he knew she was his kind of girl.

Charlotte was hot and breathless when the song ended and Boone returned her to her chair, kissed her on the tip of her nose, and bowed deeply. “Thank you for the dance, ma’am.” He went back to the fish-frying kettle.

“My pleasure.” Charlotte giggled as they locked eyes. “Now please tell me that you two are right again and promise us that this won’t never happen again.” She looked at Stella.

“We’re okay,” Nancy answered. “You got a good man there. It’s in the eyes.”

“For real? What do you look for?” Piper asked.

“If you can’t see to the bottom of his soul, then walk away,” Nancy said.

Rhett crossed the yard and held out his hand to Piper. “May I have this dance, ma’am?”

She stood up and he slipped his arm around her waist for a two-step to “Love, Me.” Collin sang about reading a note that his grandma wrote back in 1923. The lyrics said that if he got there before she did not to give up on him, that he wouldn’t let her down and it was signed, “Love, me.”

Rhett whispered, “If I get there before you do, I’ll wait for you, Piper. I’m not in a hurry and I’m not rushing you, but I like the way I feel when I’m near you. Like Collin is singing, I won’t give up, because this feels right.”

Piper’s pulse raced and her heart skipped a beat or two. She nodded and whispered back, “I really don’t even know what to say other than to tell you that it feels right to me, too.”

He drew her closer and buried his face in her hair, brushing a hidden kiss across her forehead. “That’s enough for today.”

He returned her to her seat, bent, and kissed her fingertips before he jogged back to take a turn cranking the ice-cream maker.

“Oh, my! You must’ve stepped in front of Stella and my prayers hit you,” Nancy said. “That boy’s eyes say it all.”

“And now for some Restless Heart and then we’ll listen to some George Jones,” Everett said.

“Everett loves company. We should’ve had a dozen kids, but God only gave us Stella,” Nancy said.

“He loves people almost as much as he does fishin’ and country music,” Stella said.

Everett came across the yard and held his hand out to Nancy. “What do you say, Mama? Shall we show these kids how it’s done?”

The song was a fast one titled “The Boy’s on a Roll.” Everett showed off some fancy footwork as he and Nancy swing danced in the grass. The lead singer sang that they were livin’ and lovin’ a day at a time and that they had something they could feel in their soul.

Everyone in the yard, including the two boys, stopped what they were doing, quit talking, and began clapping to the beat of the music.

Everett blew kisses to Stella and winked at all the men. Nancy was beaming through the whole song. When it ended, he returned her to her chair and kissed her smack on the lips. “Now that’s the way it’s done, boys, when we’re on a roll. And me and Mama, we stay on a roll.”

Everett had barely gotten from where the ladies were sitting to the ice-cream-making business at the back of the yard when Jed started toward Stella. He stopped in front of her and said, “You are too pretty to be a wallflower, ma’am. Might I have this dance?”

“I didn’t know preachers danced.” Piper clapped a hand over her mouth as soon as the words were out. “I didn’t mean—”

Jed chuckled. “I can’t speak for all preachers, but this preacher likes to dance. Especially in the backyard on the green grass in his bare feet.”

Piper looked down and sure enough, he and Stella both had kicked off their shoes.

The first chords of “Dancy’s Dream” started when Stella put her hand in Jed’s. It was a semifast dance and Jed mixed up a two-step with swing dancing. The song talked about the devil coming every night and dancing through Dancy’s dreams.

“So does the devil really dance in your dreams about a dark-haired beauty in New Orleans?” Stella asked.

“No, the woman who dances through my dreams is a redhead and she’s from Cadillac, Texas,” Jed said.

“Really? Who is she? Someone I know?”

“Maybe, but we were keeping our relationship a secret, remember? But I do have good news. Want to guess what it is?”

“Agnes didn’t break her hip but just threw it out?”

“No, she did break it but she came through the surgery just fine. Guess again.”

“They called off that damned barbecue ball—sorry, I’m trying to stop cussin’, I really am.”

“Nope, it’s still on the docket. Try again.” He drew her close to his chest and her heart swelled up so big she thought it would burst out of her chest. There was Jed Tucker holding her right there in front of her friends and her parents and it felt so right.

“Rhett told you that he’s in love with Piper?”

“Don’t know about that, but he didn’t tell me anything. Try one more time.”

“I’m out of guesses and the song is almost over. Tell me, please, darlin’,” she whispered seductively.

“The hiring committee met early and they hired me permanently today. I signed the contract just before I came over here,” Jed said.

“Dammit, Jed! You tell me that when I can’t even kiss you,” Stella said.

“Payback,” Jed said. “Let’s announce it right now to your family. This is a special night and that would be the icing on the cake.”

“Not until we’ve had time to talk about it and process it,” she said.