The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(11)

“You finished on that soapbox, Piper? If you are, climb down and let me have it,” Agnes said.

“I’m done,” Piper said.

“Okay, here’s my take, Stella Joy. If you want to get married, then find a husband and do it. If you don’t, tell everyone who is prayin’ for you to get married to climb on a rusty poker and go straight to hell. It’s your decision and you do it in your time and your way to whom-so-damn-ever you please. But it’s been slower than molasses in December around Cadillac lately, so I’m ready for some excitement. So don’t tell anyone that you ain’t goin’ to abide by their prayers until we have some fun with this,” Agnes said.

Stella wasn’t in a very forgiving mood right then and nothing about this whole situation was funny. She fought back another batch of tears and braced herself for her full day of customers. Everyone was already talking about the sign at the church. If they saw her crying, it would add fuel to the fire. She really, really wanted to make a phone call, but the person she needed to talk to was in meetings with his phone turned off.

A rooster crowed and everyone but Agnes looked toward the window.

“That’ll be the ring sound for my phone. I hate it when a phone plays music, so I set mine to sound like a rooster. I figure someone must have something they want to crow about or they wouldn’t be callin’ me.” Agnes fished it out of the bib pocket of her denim overalls and put it to her ear. “What have you got for me?” she asked without saying “hello” first.

“Uh-huh. Just what I thought. Don’t you worry none. The FBI can pull out my teeth with rusty pliers and I wouldn’t rat you out. You just stay in the enemy camp and keep me informed. I’ll do the rest. ’Bye now.” Agnes put the phone back in her pocket.

“Well?” Stella asked.

Agnes’s grin was so wide that it wiped out dozens of wrinkles. “Just as I thought. Heather says the sign stays until God drops a husband into your lap. And they have decided to call out that verse about those who help themselves, so they intend to help God. But don’t you worry. We will outwit the whole damn lot of them.”

“What have they done?” Stella asked through clenched teeth.

“They’re having a bake sale on Monday to raise money,” Agnes said.

“And?” Piper asked.

“They’re going to give it to the church and hope God drops a husband down from heaven for Stella, right?” Charlotte asked.

“Nope. They’re going to take all the money and purchase ten-dollar money orders to give away to bachelors,” Agnes reported.

“Why?” Piper raised both eyebrows.

“Ain’t that what you charge your men customers for a haircut?” Agnes asked.

“No!” Stella threw her hand over her mouth.

“Want my advice?” Agnes asked.

Stella nodded as she slowly removed her hand. “Yes, ma’am.”

Agnes smiled. “They’ll have the sale on Monday, count up their money that evening, and go buy money orders down at the post office on Tuesday. It’ll be Wednesday before they start finding men to parade through here for haircuts, so Tuesday evening after the post office closes for the day, you put a price increase notice on your door. Effective immediately, due to hell freezin’ over, haircuts will now be fifteen dollars or twenty dollars or, hell, a hundred dollars. How many men’s haircuts do y’all do in a normal week?” Agnes asked.

“Maybe one or two. Ruby only charges eight dollars, so most of them go there,” Piper said.

“Promise me right now that what is said in the Yellow Rose stays in the Yellow Rose, just like that Las Vegas sayin’,” Agnes said.

Piper, Charlotte, and Stella all nodded seriously and said in unison, “We promise.”

Agnes clapped her hands and giggled like a schoolgirl. “We’ll teach them to mess with us. Now, Piper, let’s get my hair done. I want it to look real fine for church on Sunday. I may play dumb and offer to take something to their bake sale.”

“Not fudge,” Stella gasped.

Agnes giggled like a little girl. “I think folks are on to me with the fudge. It was just too damn temptin’ not to put laxative in it when I knew Violet would gobble it right down. No, I’m thinking a dozen pecan tarts from over at Clawdy’s. Besides, not a thing they’ll cook will be as good as Cathy’s pecan tarts. As much as I love Nancy’s banana bread, it’s not as good as tarts.”

Stella hugged Agnes. “I love you, Agnes Flynn.”

“Us redheads got to stick together.” Agnes beamed. “We’ll outfox that bunch of bitches, darlin’. Don’t you worry about it.”

Stella felt a hot burn filling her cheeks but there wasn’t a blasted thing she could do about it. She couldn’t tell her best friends that she was already married or that she couldn’t tell anyone for another four weeks or her new husband might have to leave Cadillac and she didn’t want to leave her friends, the shop, or, dammit, her mama, even if she was mad at her. And besides all that, Heather was not about to run her out of town.





CHAPTER THREE

A semicool breeze from off the river ruffled the willow branches, making a lovely canopy above Stella and the sexy man beside her. She could hardly catch her breath after a bout of wild, passionate sex. His naked body was sweaty and hot, both physically and sexually, and somewhere out there in the Red River a catfish splashed in the water and a night owl joined with the bullfrogs and crickets in a concert.