The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(17)

“We are going to a fish fry tonight and your dad is coming to it so you can talk to him. I couldn’t catch Piper, but doesn’t she usually take the boys up to McDonald’s in Sherman after church for dinner? Think you could get in touch with her and tell her to bring the boys to the park at six o’clock?” Charlotte asked.

Stella nodded. “Sure thing. I’m not going to Mama’s for dinner, so I’ll just drive up to McDonald’s. Oh—Daddy winked at me when I waved. And Heather shot daggers at me.”

“You’ve got balls the size of an elephant’s even if you are a girl,” Boone whispered.

“Just determination not to let them win.” Stella smiled.

Charlotte laid a hand on Stella’s shoulder. “You should call Piper and then go to your mama’s for dinner. Your daddy loves you and besides, we only get one mother, lady. They might not be what we want and God knows they ain’t never perfect, but . . .”

Stella tucked her chin and rolled her eyes up toward Charlotte. “I’m not ready to talk to her yet and you don’t get to preach at me. I might get over this after my birthday comes and goes or I might be pissed off all the way through eternity.”

Charlotte took a couple of steps forward. “Hey, don’t get mad at me. Nancy might have gone about it the wrong way, but she wants you to be happy, so don’t be too hard on her.”

“Happy doesn’t have to mean married, does it? I can be happy without a marriage license and a man in my house twenty-four/seven, can’t I?”

“Happy in my world means I have to be married,” Charlotte said.

“I wish you both a lifetime of wonderful bliss,” Stella said.

“Can I borrow your phone?” Charlotte changed the subject.

“What’s the matter with yours?” Stella asked.

“She’s probably going to see who you’ve been talking to,” Boone laughed.

Charlotte slapped him on the shoulder. “Tattletale! I betcha I could have found out who her boyfriend is in five seconds.”

Stella zipped the top of her purse and hugged it close to her body. “You are not getting anywhere near my phone.”

“If I knew how to hack into a computer, I bet I’d find out who he is in a hurry,” Charlotte whispered as she stepped up and held out her hand toward Jed. “That was a wonderful sermon, Brother Jed. And very timely in view of what’s on the church sign this week.”

“Thank you. I hope it fell on the right ears.” Jed smiled. “Hello, Stella.”

She put her hand in his and sure enough, a tingle went from her toes to her nose.

“You are taking this very well this morning,” he said.

“If you can’t lick ’em, prove ’em wrong.” She smiled.

“I’ll call later today,” he whispered.

She squeezed his hand and hurried out to her car.



Piper and the boys were already in a booth at McDonald’s when Stella arrived. She waved, went to the counter and ordered, and then slid in beside Piper across from the twins.

“Hey, guys. What’s going on?” she asked.

“We got to get big people meals today instead of Happy Meals. And guess what, we went fishin’ yesterday with Grandpa and we cooked the fish and two little fishes fed us all and we told Preacher Jed about it this morning. And guess what else?” Luke stopped to suck in more air.

Tanner picked up where he left off. “Grandma says that we can stay at her house and not go to day care and Mama says that we can if we want to so we’re going to sleep on it and then make up our minds. And if we eat our big people meal we get ice cream for dessert. If it was breakfast time, we would eat pancakes. We like pancakes. Daddy used to make them for us sometimes.”

Piper’s eyes misted over and she turned around so the boys couldn’t see her expression. Stella could have easily shot Gene. God wouldn’t put the murder charge on her tab. He might give her some extra credit and forgive her for blowing kisses at Heather.

She pointed to the McDonald’s fun house. “I bet y’all could eat a big ice cream cone if you played out there when you get finished eating. I see Aunt Charlotte coming, so she’s going to want to eat and then maybe we could all have ice cream together.”

“Wow! This is the best weekend ever, Aunt Stella,” Luke said.

They polished off the last of their fries and ran out to the play area. Stella threw an arm around Piper’s shoulders. “Coffee?”

Piper nodded and brushed at the tears. “I’m sorry. Sometimes it just gets to me.”

“I know exactly what you mean. All I have to do is think of that damn sign and I want to cry all over again or strangle Heather,” Stella said.

Piper cleared her throat. “Yes, I’d love a coffee. You know before Mama died last year, she told me that time would fly and soon the boys would be grown and I should spend every minute I could with them. Her one regret was that she had to work and didn’t have chocolate chip cookies on the table for me after school. I remember that Nancy always had cookies or banana bread for you. And I’m not trying to guilt you. I just wish I could talk to her about all this and I can’t because you are my friend and you are more important but, oh, hell, it’s all tangled up and I can’t express what I’m trying to say.” She pushed back her half-eaten burger.