The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (26 page)

“If she does, y’all better be ready to go tell her mama there won’t be a wedding after all,” Nancy answered.

Stella couldn’t take her eyes off the clock. Dammit! She didn’t want to deliver that kind of news. It might be the only time in history, but she had no doubt she’d never leave the Miller property alive after all the money that had been spent and the work that had already been done.

Twenty-eight minutes after she went into the bathroom, Charlotte came down the hall. “I’m going home to Boone right now. I won’t be staying here another night, Stella. And, Nancy, thank you.” She held out her hand for her phone, wiped her wet cheeks, and marched out the door.

Stella wiped the sweat from her forehead. “That was a close call.”

“She’s tougher than she looks. That don’t mean she won’t argue with him, bitch at him, or make him sleep on the sofa some of the time. It does mean that she’s in this for the duration and nobody better mess with her marriage because she’s sure about what she wants now.” Nancy sighed.

“Why the sigh?” Stella asked.

“Doesn’t that make you happy?” Charlotte asked.

“Yes, it does. I care about all three of you girls and I want you all to be happy. I was just thinking, though, that I thought Claudia’s mama was ancient when she gave me that advice. Now that I look back she was about my age.”

“And you’re thinkin’ you are old?” Stella slung an arm around her mother’s shoulders.

“Hell, no, I was thinking that Claudia’s mama was pretty young to be that smart.” Nancy laughed.

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tella woke at midnight and reached for Jed. She opened her eyes and realized he was gone, picked up his pillow, and threw it against the wall. She was wide-awake, her stomach growled with hunger, and she had to go to the bathroom.

Slinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she heard a noise at the window and her heart did one of those crazy dances like always when he arrived. She quickly turned, but it was just a tree limb scratching the window.

With a moan, she headed toward the door and to the bathroom. She didn’t turn on the light when she washed her hands because she didn’t want to see herself in the mirror above the sink. She made her way from there to the kitchen as quietly as possible and opened the refrigerator.

“You couldn’t sleep, either?” Piper said from the table.

Stella squealed, slammed the refrigerator door, and jumped six inches straight up off the floor. “You scared the shit out of me. What you doing sitting in the dark?”

“Trying to figure out a way to apologize to you and disappoint your mama,” Piper answered.

Stella turned on the light above the table, pulled out a chair, and sank down into it. “My heart is still racing. You scared me so bad that I saw the pearly gates in the distance. Thank God, I’d already been to the bathroom.”

“I probably would have seen the biggest bonfire Lucifer could get going instead of hearing angels singing and playing harps if you dropped dead,” Piper said.

“Enough of the lame jokes. What are you doing sitting in the dark and why are you saying that about disappointing Mama?”

Piper shrugged. “I didn’t think to ask you when Nancy made that offer. They’re your parents, not mine. And I’d be overstepping my boundaries to move out there. I can’t do that to our friendship. I love you too much, Stella.”

Stella pushed her red hair out of her face. “What in the hell are you talking about?”

“I keep saying this but it’s the truth. You and Charlotte have helped me get through the tough times. Remember that old saying about how a good friend will double your joy and half your sorrows? That’s what y’all do. And you’ll wind up resenting me if I move that close to your folks. Your dad will get even closer to the boys than he is now and when you have children . . .” She let the sentence trail off.

Stella reached across the table and laid a hand on Piper’s. “I get so mad at my mama that I could strangle her, but believe me when I tell you she’s got a big heart and there’s plenty of room in it for all of us.” She paused to get the next words right. “And FYI, honey, it was my idea in the first place. I suggested that she offer you that trailer house and that she bring up the idea of renting your place to a teacher. Rosalee asked me last week if I knew of any rental property available. Her friend’s great-niece, or was it her neighbor’s son’s dog walker’s cousin’s boyfriend’s cousin by marriage—you know how it goes in Cadillac—is one of those new teachers that Mama mentioned.”

Piper giggled. “You can always make me laugh with that line.”

“It’s not a line. It’s the gospel truth according to Rosalee and is probably one of the lost books they talk about sometimes in church. If truth was known there’s a cousin’s camel walker who married a niece’s maid somewhere in there, but it got lost in the uncle’s tent as they crossed the Red Sea.”

“Hush or I’ll laugh so hard I’ll start snorting,” Piper said and then got serious. “Are you absolutely sure? I can turn this around in the morning and find another place. Hell, we could convert the top floor of the building we rented for the shop into an apartment. Darla Jean lives in the back of her church a few doors down. The boys and I could turn the back of the building into livable space.”

Stella shook her head hard enough that her hair was soon back in her eyes. “I won’t have Luke and Tanner living above a beauty shop and playing on the sidewalk. Kids need fresh air and sunshine. So yes, ma’am, I’m sure.”

Rosalee followed Stella into the shop, set a paper bag of tomatoes on the coffee table in front of the sofa, and eased down into the corner. “Y’all have to share them but I guess the whole bunch of you are livin’ together most of the time anyway. When do Piper’s boys come home?”

Stella smiled. “You are sitting in Agnes’s favorite spot.”

Rosalee waved a hand in a gesture that said Agnes wouldn’t care. “Arthritis is acting up or I’d help y’all pack tonight. Don’t look so surprised. Nancy and I had breakfast together at Clawdy’s this morning and she had to tell someone or she’d blow up. And I can keep a secret for at least two days. I did tell Agnes, but that don’t count.”

“I want to surprise the boys,” Piper said.

Rosalee put a finger over her lips and closed her eyes. With the heavy silence, the shop was as eerie as the music in a horror film. Finally her eyes popped open and her mouth turned up in a wide grin. “Agnes left the story about you moving out up to me and I just figured it all out.”

“What?” Stella asked.

Rosalee just smiled. “If you want a diversion to work, even in gossip, it’s got to have just enough truth in it to shock the shit out of everyone. Y’all just go right on about your business and don’t try to be all secretive about a damn thing. I’ll take care of the rest,” Rosalee said. “I’ll call Agnes after a while and we’ll hash it out to see if I’m on the right track. I’ve had more fun this summer than I’ve had in years.”

“You can tell us so we’ll be ready for whatever you two old gals cook up,” Charlotte said.

“Y’all just get on about your jobs tonight and trust me to do mine. Now, let’s talk about the barbecue ball. I’ve rented a limo to take us and Agnes and Nancy and whoever from Bless My Bloomers and Clawdy’s wants to go with us,” Rosalee said in the same tone that she’d told them they had to share the tomatoes.

“Holy shit!” Stella said.

Rosalee rubbed her hands together. “It’s the finest limo you’ve ever seen. It’s camouflage and it’s one of them Hummer things. I wanted a pickup truck, but it was already taken for a wedding over in Tom Bean. We’ll meet at Darla Jean’s church and go from there. Give y’all plenty of room to park your cars and trucks that way.”

“Is Darla Jean going?” Piper asked.

Rosalee tucked her chin down to the top of her overalls and looked up over the top of her bifocals. “Sure she is. I told her if she didn’t, I’d quit going to church and that God sure enough wouldn’t let a former hooker in heaven if she couldn’t keep her congregation in attendance.”

“Well, thank you. I will be honored to ride in a camo limo.” Stella laughed. “But why go to the expense? Heather will be inside and won’t see it.”

Rosalee smiled. “Done got that covered. The newspaper in Sher
man is sending down a reporter to cover the ball and she will be there in time to photograph the limo. Hell, I wouldn’t pay out them big bucks if it didn’t bring me some happiness. And I bet with all the hoopla we can get Heather outside long enough to see the limo.”

“Does Heather know about this reporter?”

Rosalee adjusted her glasses. “Oh, yes, and the television station. We want her to spend lots and lots of money, and she’ll do it if she thinks she’s got something flashy happenin’. Marriage ministry, my ass. That girl thinks she can make God into one of them Internet dating services.”

Stella sat down beside Rosalee. “What else have you two got up your sleeves?”

“Lots of wonderful surprises. Piper, you will be dancing with Rhett, so wear high heels if you’ve got a mind to,” Rosalee yelled across the room.

“How can you promise that? I might get paired up with one of those McKay brothers and they barely come up to my shoulder. If I wear high heels, their noses will get buried up in my boobs when we dance,” Piper said.

“Trust me and FYI—or is it SYI? I can’t ever remember them alphabet soup things you kids say these days. Oh, Lorene says that Gene bought a ticket to attend the ball,” Rosalee said. “Just thought you should know.”

Piper groaned. “What if Heather draws his name and then mine?”

“I told you to trust me. You will be dancing with Rhett. As for the rest of it, there ain’t no tellin’ what might happen at the barbecue ball.” Rosalee patted Stella on the knee.

“Can you tell me who I’m dancing with?” Stella asked.

“I could, but I ain’t. If you don’t stand up and testify about that man that’s sneaking in your bedroom window at night and out again in the morning, then your dance partner will be a big surprise,” Rosalee told her.

Stella’s cheeks immediately flooded with crimson. “How did you know about that?”

“Grasshopper, you have a lot to learn before Agnes dies and leaves Cadillac to you.” She giggled. “I’m off to Ruby’s to see what kind of trouble I can stir up. Agnes has given me the job of pestering Violet.”

“But she’s in rehab,” Piper said.

“They’re bringing her to Ruby’s in a special van to get her roots done this morning,” Rosalee said.

Silence once again fell on the shop after the door closed behind Rosalee.

Charlotte stared at Stella.

Piper couldn’t even blink.

“Is it true that your boyfriend is sneaking in the window at night? We were teasing about the music. We thought you were using it to cover up Charlotte’s snores,” Piper said.

Charlotte air slapped her on the shoulder. “Mine aren’t as loud as yours.”

“Back to the window and the man sneaking in and out,” Piper said.

“Yes, he does,” Stella said, “and the music isn’t to cover up your snores. And no, I’m not telling who he is until after the barbecue ball. And now he won’t be coming in the window because one of you would be hiding to see who he is. And if I get bitchy, you can blame yourselves. So there,” Stella said.

“Why wait until after the ball?” Charlotte asked.

“Because that’s my mother’s punishment for putting my name on that damned prayer list and starting all this and because . . . it’s a secret,” Stella answered.

“But you and Nancy made up at the fireworks show,” Charlotte said.

“We did, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t get punished.”

“Stella Joy Baxter, your mama loves you,” Charlotte said.

“Don’t triple name me. I know she loves me and I love her, but the man I’ve been seeing and I have decided to wait to come out of the closet. You will be one of the first to know, I promise,” Stella said.

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he curb in front of Piper’s place looked like Piper was either having a garage sale or else she’d turned her place into a used-truck lot. Nancy and Everett had come in separate trucks with Jed parking right behind Everett. Boone brought his truck and cattle trailer and Rhett showed up in a truck with a flatbed trailer hitched to the back. Rosalee and Agnes had better have their stories down real good, because when the first piece of furniture went out the door, the stories would start flying around Cadillac.

“I brought the preacher with me,” Everett said. “He ain’t got church tonight and he volunteered.”

“Thank you,” Piper yelled from the kitchen. “I’ll take all the help I can get.”

Everett touched his wife on the shoulder. “Okay, Nancy, you’re the organizer. What do we do first?”

“The living room. Take all the furniture out and put it in Boone’s trailer and truck. Those”—she pointed to the boxes lined up on the wall—“are to go in the same truck and trailer. We’ll unload that one last when we get there. When that’s all done, I’ll tell you what to do next and y’all can grab a bowl of soup while you rest.”

Stella poked Piper on the arm. “See, I told you. Controlling.”

“You say ta-mah-toe while I say to-may-toe. You say controlling. I say organizing,” Piper said.

Charlotte removed the lid from the enormous Crock-Pot and took a whiff of the vegetable beef soup. “I say I’m hungry and we should eat. That way us four ladies will be done and the guys can have the kitchen table to sit at before they load it up.”

Nancy nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me. Cut that pan of cornbread, Stella. Piper, you can put ice in glasses and pour sweet tea. Charlotte, you get the disposable bowls out of the sack I brought. There’s also plastic spoons and a soup ladle and napkins in there.”

“Want me to cut the brownies, too, boss lady?” Stella asked.

Nancy cut her eyes around at Stella. “I’m leaving my organizational skills to Charlotte instead of you.”

“That’s a good thing, Mama. I’m going to be busy filling Agnes’s shoes,” Stella shot back.

“You do remind me of her, but those are some big boots for you to fill.”

“Agnes wears flip-flops, not boots,” Charlotte said. “And to my thinking, I’ll have some big ones to fill, too, if you leave me your skills. There’s no way we could have packed everything in one evening without you.”

Piper nodded. “And I thank you all. I can’t believe we are getting it done so fast.”

Nancy patted her on the shoulder. “Now let’s get to work. When the guys get it all loaded, Piper will drive her van and go with them. That way she can tell them where to put things. You two”—she pointed at Stella and Charlotte—“will stay behind with me and we’re going to wipe down countertops, vacuum, and be sure everything is completely ready for the new renters. That way Piper doesn’t have to come back here for anything. They can bring her rent money down to the shop.”

Piper hugged Nancy. “Thank you.”

Nancy yelled into the living room, “Jed, come in here and bless this food before we eat it and then there will be room at the table for you guys.”

Jed set down the box that he’d just picked up, dusted his hands on the seat of his jeans, and headed toward the kitchen. He bowed his head, said a quick grace, and inhaled deeply. “Just smelling that good soup will make us work faster. We do get to eat right after we get the living room loaded, don’t we?”

“Yes, you do,” Stella said. “We’ll be finished by then and you can have our chairs.”

“Come on, Jed. You’ve had time to say four graces by now,” Everett yelled. “I need help with this sofa. Holy shit, Piper! Is this damn thing made out of concrete?”

Piper swallowed and yelled back, “I bought a sturdy one. I’ve got two boys, remember? You sure you want me to move to the country?”

“Jed, call in the other two. It’ll take all four of us to get this damn thing in the trailer,” Everett said.

“Guess Preacher Jed is getting an earful of cusswords,” Stella whispered in her mother’s direction.

Nancy sighed. “I imagine he prays for your daddy’s soul every night. I heard today that your boyfriend has been slipping in the bedroom window at night. That’s a little bit juvenile, don’t you think, Stella? He could come right in the front door.”

“Mama!” Stella’s eyes popped wide-open.

Nancy smiled. “Don’t look at me like that. Rosalee told me and when I asked her how she knew, she said that was an FBU secret. I get a big kick out of the way that she and Agnes get things turned around. I’m sure she was talking about the FBI, but I didn’t say a word.”

“I’m not sayin’ a word. She’s coverin’ for me tonight about why I’m moving,” Piper said. “But I did hear down at the convenience store this afternoon that Stella’s boyfriend is an ex-con and she don’t want her mama to know she’s fallen in love with a man who has tattoos and a record.”

“Oh, my God!” Nancy’s voice carried all over the kitchen.

“He doesn’t have a record,” Stella protested.

“Tattoos?” Nancy raised an eyebrow.

Stella shrugged. “You didn’t tell them to put that on the billboard at the church. You just said a husband. You should’ve been more specific if you don’t like tats. And, Mama, now that the whole town knows he’s visiting me, I guess I gave him his own drawer in my dresser for nothing.” She hadn’t meant to say that last sentence, but there it was hanging over the table like heavy smoke in a cheap honky-tonk.

“You have a boyfriend and you gave him a drawer in your bedroom. This is serious, Stella Joy.” Nancy clapped her hands like a little girl. “I’m going to get a son-in-law and I don’t give a shit if he’s got a dozen tattoos as long as he treats you like a queen.”

Piper’s spoon was halfway to her mouth with soup dripping back into the bowl. “Yes, it is, and you didn’t tell us until tonight?”

“I didn’t mean to tell you tonight. It just slipped out. Not that it matters now,” she said.

“I’ll be gone after Saturday night. He can come on in the front door after that for sure,” Piper said.

“With the whole town watching every door and window in my house? Hell, I wish I had moved out to Granny’s trailer. At least there were no neighbors for miles.”

“Announce who he is and the gossip will die down,” Nancy said.

Piper scooped up more soup. “This is delicious, Nancy. What’s your secret?”

“Half a cup to a cup of homemade picante sauce in it after it’s cooked. Who is it, Stella Joy?”

Stella wanted to tell her mother but she flat-out couldn’t that night. Not while they were moving Piper and not until she talked to Jed. They should be together when they announced to the world that they’d been married before that sign went up at the church. “I will tell you the night of the barbecue ball, I promise.”

Nancy’s eyes twinkled and she wiggled her shoulders. “The Angels did a good job after all.”

“Don’t give them an ounce of credit for anything but creating a big mess over all this. I”—she stopped midsentence before she said “married him” and quickly finished—“was seeing him long before you put my name on that damned old list.”

“And you didn’t bring him home to meet me and your dad. Shame on you!” Nancy fussed. “All this could have been avoided if you’d just told me.”

“Oh, but Cadillac needed something new to fuss about, so it’s not all in vain,” Piper said.

“Sometimes it takes magic to make things clear.” Charlotte smiled. “Who would have thought a half an hour in a dark bathroom could turn my life around?”

Rhett was the first of the guys to make it to the kitchen. He washed his hands in the sink and dried them on a paper towel. “Soup looks good. Did you make it, Piper?”

“Nancy did,” she said.

Their eyes met and the heat in the room went up twenty degrees. Not even when they were young and their hormones raged had she felt like that with Gene. He smiled and she did the same.

“You still going to the dance out at Violet’s barn?” he asked.

She nodded. “She’s calling it a ball and it’s a cultural affair.”

Rhett chuckled. Lord, he even chuckled with a deep drawl. “She can call it those things if she wants, but it’s a barn dance. Want me to pick you up for it? Since it’s formal, shall I bring a corsage?”

“Agnes and Rosalee have rented a limo for us ladies.”

“A chariot will bring you, then. I’ll be there to help escort you inside,” he said.

“It’s a far cry from a chariot, Rhett. It’s a Hummer that’s painted camouflage.”

Rhett laughed out loud. “That ought to cause a stir. What color is your dress?”

“Dark green, but it’s not camo.”

He blinked a few times but his eyes never left hers. “I’ll have your corsage delivered to the shop.”

She looked down at the floor. “What if my name isn’t drawn with yours?”

“I’ll cut in on every dance and manage to sit beside you at dinner anyway. I’m sneaky that way,” he whispered.

“Hey, don’t eat all the soup,” Jed said. “We worked as hard as you did.”

According to the clock, the conversation had lasted less than two minutes. If that short time brought on the jitters, she wondered if her heart could take a whole evening with Rhett.

“Hey, Piper,” Stella called from the back of the house. “Come help us. We forgot to pack up the bathroom last night.”

“See you later,” Rhett said.

She nodded and floated down the hall toward the bathroom.

“I flirted with Rhett and it didn’t feel awkward,” she whispered.

“It shouldn’t. Boone says that he really likes you,” Charlotte said.

Stella whipped the shower curtain back. “Mama, your prayers bypassed me and hit Piper.”

Nancy was carefully setting everything from the medicine cabinet in a small box. “Well, I’m glad someone is benefiting. I may not ever forgive you for having a boyfriend who gets a drawer in your bedroom and you don’t tell me about him. But at least someone is benefiting from the shit storm I unleashed when I asked for prayers. Maybe God thinks y’all are all my daughters. And Stella, darlin’, I guess you know that I intend to look through that drawer when you are at work tomorrow.”

“You go into my bedroom and I won’t tell you his name until Christmas,” Stella threatened.

“I’m going to the kitchen to help those guys with their supper before y’all get out the guns and knives,” Charlotte said.

“Hey, we don’t have guns and knives,” Nancy said.

“But we’ve got fingernail files and hair conditioner, and believe me, those can be deadly. This is Piper’s night so let’s talk about her, not me,” Stella smarted off.

Charlotte tightened her ponytail and headed for the kitchen. She stopped at the table long enough to drop a kiss on Boone’s forehead before she picked up the tea jug and refilled their glasses. “Y’all ready for brownies?”

“Got any coffee?” Everett asked.

“Yes, darlin’, I brought a thermos. I knew you couldn’t eat brownies without coffee,” Nancy shouted from the bathroom. “When y’all get done eating, start on the boys’ bedroom.”

Charlotte set the pan of brownies in the middle of the table. “They’re cut and ready. I’d best go help carry the kids’ clothes out to the back of Piper’s van so all she has to do is take them out and hang them up.”

As she was leaving, she heard Boone say, “I’m the luckiest man in the whole world.”

Everett said, “You just keep thinkin’ that, son, and you’ll have one of them marriages that lasts past the time the wedding bells stop ringin’.”

Charlotte stopped in the hallway and eavesdropped.

“So what’s your secret?” Jed asked.

“There’s two secrets, son. One is to love your woman, not with your whole heart but with your soul. If you got an inklin’ that you aren’t finished chasin’ skirts, then you ain’t ready to settle down anyway. The other is to respect your woman.” Everett poured coffee from the thermos into his cup. “That’s different from loving her. That means you don’t belittle her, not in front of other people or in private. Your job is to not only make her feel like she’s gorgeous but to know in your heart that she really is and to drop down on your knees every once in a while and thank God that he put her in your life. You do those things and you’ll be just fine. If you don’t, somebody else will and you’ll lose the best thing that ever happened to you.”