The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)

The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)

Carolyn Brown




AUTHOR’S NOTE

Dear Readers,

Welcome to Cadillac, Texas, where the jalape?o peppers are the hottest in the state and the gossip is even hotter. As you drive into town, take a look at the sign on the church lawn that says, “Pray for My Daughter. She Needs a Husband.” Then stop by Clawdy’s Café to get lunch. I’m sure they’ll tell you what daughter needs a husband and who had the audacity to put her on the Prayer Angels’ list.

While you are there, be sure to go into Bless My Bloomers and take a peek at their blinged-out lingerie, and they’ll tell you more about Stella Baxter, the lady who needs a husband.

But above all, don’t forget to go down to the Yellow Rose Beauty Shop, where all the action is right now. Stella and her two friends own the beauty shop, and she’s not a bit happy with her mother or with the sign at the church. But it’s there and the gossip is flying about the newest scandal in town, whose name is Stella Baxter and who is no stranger to the hot seat where gossip is concerned! Before the week is over the whole thing will blow up bigger than a class-five Texas tornado, so you might want to stick around for the action.

It takes a village to produce a book. And I’d like to thank the Montlake staff for all their hard work in taking this book from my dream to a reality. To my editor, Kelli Martin, my absolute undying gratitude for the hard work she put in on this to make it a better, stronger book. She deserves a crown made of great big sparkling diamonds. To the publicity crew, y’all are the best of the best. To the folks who designed the cover, OMGoodness, you have outdone yourselves. And to all the behind-the-scenes staff who helped to put this book into my readers’ hands, hats off to you all! To my darling husband, who brings hot tea to my office in the mornings and shuts the door behind him without uttering a word, you are special beyond words. And to all of my readers, who continue to buy my books, talk about them, share them with their friends, and write reviews . . . please know that you are appreciated.

As I finish this, the Christmas season is upon us, but The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop is set in July and you will be reading it in the heat of the summer. So find a nice cool spot, grab a glass of ice-cold sweet tea, and enjoy!

All my best,

Carolyn Brown





   To my editor, Kelli Martin.

   It’s been said that people come into your path for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.

   I’m hoping you are in my path for all three.





CHAPTER ONE

If Nancy Baxter had known that she was turning loose a major shit storm, she would never have put Stella’s name on the prayer list down at the church in Cadillac, Texas. But she hadn’t had the benefit of hindsight that hot southern night, and she really did want Stella to get married. So when Heather, the president of the Prayer Angels, asked if anyone wanted to add a name to the list, Nancy had spoken right up and said, “Pray for my daughter. She needs a husband.”

The Angels took their spirituality seriously, so the praying began in earnest, and before they were done God had been petitioned by a dozen women to send a husband to Cadillac and to earmark him special for Stella Baxter. No one dared to ask why she needed a husband, but they did have their ideas, which turned into juicy gossip by the next morning.



Stella hummed a song from a Pistol Annies CD when she opened the door to her beauty shop, the Yellow Rose, that Friday morning. She set the control to the air conditioner back a few notches and swept up a few dead crickets from the waiting area in the front part of the shop.

Hair dryers heated up the small room, though customers liked to be cool. If it was this hot the day before the official first day of summer, then by the end of July it would be even hotter than the famous jalape?o peppers they grew in Cadillac, Texas.

The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop had started out fifty years before as a small clothing store, so it had a big display window in the front. It had taken lots of planning when they were designing the shop, but they’d finally decided to use yellow carpet in the display area and put a white cast-iron bistro set in it. A mason jar with three yellow silk roses and Queen Anne’s lace sat in the middle of the table.

They’d left a wide expanse of floor open from the front to the three styling stations at the back. Covered in light-brown tile that shone like glass, it was easy to clean. A soft leather sofa the color of freshly churned butter on one side with a coffee table in front of it took up space on one wall, and a glass-topped table with four chairs around it was across the area on the other wall. Hairstyling magazines were scattered on both tables. Stella stopped long enough to arrange them before she went on back to her station.

To the right of the styling stations, three shampoo sinks with chairs had been installed with a small bookcase separating them from the front area. Above the sinks were posters of her, Charlotte’s, and Piper’s three favorite movies: Gone with the Wind, Steel Magnolias, and Something to Talk About. A door led into a back room that had once been the place where shoes were stored on shelving. Now it held a weathered wooden table with four mismatched chairs around it. The table was used for folding towels, doing paperwork, and/or having lunch. A washer and dryer sat in the corner with a dorm-size refrigerator topped with a microwave beside it. And the shoe shelves now served for perms, hair dye, shampoo, and racks of towels and capes.