The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(15)

“That should cause a war in Cadillac,” Lorene said.

Piper hugged her sons. “Won’t be the first one and probably won’t be the last.”

Lorene shook her head slowly in disbelief. “Might be the biggest, though. What was Nancy thinking? It’ll be a riot before it’s all done and over. See you guys in a couple of weeks. Come give Grandma a hug.”

They left Piper’s side and quickly wrapped their arms around Lorene’s waist. She kissed them both on the forehead and waved out the window until they couldn’t see her anymore.

Piper’s jaws ached from clamping them shut so tightly. It wasn’t Lorene’s fault, and truth was that the twins probably had a better time at her house than they would have with Gene and his girlfriend. Still, it made her so mad that she could have hanged that man from the nearest pecan tree with a barbed-wire noose.

They weren’t identical twins. Tanner had blond hair, big blue eyes, and a thin face. Luke had a square face like his father, green eyes, and brown hair. Even though they didn’t look alike, they were true twins who thought alike, finished each other’s sentences, and slept in the same position.

Tanner grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the church. “Mama, guess what. Grandpa took us fishin’ in his pond and Luke caught a perch and I caught a bass and Grandma cooked them for us. And it was like the fishes that Jesus had. They made a whole platter full of fish and we had all we wanted and there was some leftovers and it was the best fish ever. I can’t wait to tell Preacher Jed all about it. He’s teachin’ our Sunday school class now and I like him a whole lot.”

Luke held her other hand and skipped along beside her. “He’s the neatest preacher we’ve ever had. I wish he could go fishin’ with us. I bet he’d show us how to catch great big fishes.”

Piper led them into their class and nodded at the preacher, who was sitting on the floor with children all around him. Luke and Tanner quickly found a place as close to him as they could get. Instead of going to her classroom, she went back outside and leaned on her car. She dug her cell phone out of the bottom of her big purse and dialed the all-too-familiar number. Gene picked up on the fourth ring.

“Why are you calling this early? Didn’t Mama bring the boys back to you on time?” he asked gruffly.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you didn’t want the boys this weekend? You don’t have to take them and I miss them when they’re gone,” she said.

“Mama didn’t mind watching them. She and Dad get a big kick out of them and Rita and I had plans. We took her two nieces to Six Flags,” he said. “I don’t have time to argue with you this morning, Piper. I’m making pancakes for all the girls and they’re having breakfast in bed.”

That dirty bastard knew just how to push her buttons, and it took every bit of her willpower not to fry the airwaves with words that would melt the asphalt in the church parking lot.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” she answered.

The phone went dead in her hands and then rang before she could get it back into her purse. She groaned when she saw that it was Lorene. Lord, she’d had enough of Gene and his family, more than enough for a Sunday morning. She looked up at the church sign and mumbled, “I guess it could be a hell of a lot worse.”

She said, “Hello, Lorene. Did the boys forget something?”

“I wanted to talk to you but the boys were right there and I didn’t want to ask in front of them because it might have made it hard on you to say no and . . .”

A long pause and then Lorene went on to say, “Gene is our son and we still love him, Piper, even if we don’t understand or agree with what he is doing with his life. You’ve been a big part of our family for the past seven years, too, and we don’t want to cause trouble of any kind, but we do love having the boys. And, well,” she stammered. “Would you consider letting us have them on Saturdays? Or . . .” Another long pause. “I know they go to day care in the summertime and school is out and that has to cost a lot.”

Gene’s parents had been very quiet about the divorce. Lorene had called her once and begged her to give her son another chance, but it hadn’t been Piper’s decision to get the divorce and Gene had never asked for a second chance. If he had, Piper would have told him to go to hell.

“Yes, it does, but Gene does pay his child support and I use it for the day care center. In the fall, they’ll be in school all day and it costs only about half as much during that time,” Piper said.

“We’d like to keep the boys for you. I could pick them up in the morning before you go to work and their grandpa would be glad to bring them home in the evenings. Or you could just let us know each day when your last appointment is and we’ll deliver them to the shop. We get pretty lonely out here on the ranch since we’re both retired. We wouldn’t charge you anything, so you could put the money up for their education or use it to buy their school clothes and supplies this fall. Would you just think about it for a week?” Lorene spit out the words in a steady stream without catching her breath.

Piper held the phone out from her ear and looked at it. Was she hearing things?

“You still there?” Lorene yelled.

“I’m sorry. Did you just offer to keep the boys for free?”