The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(18)

“Hey, what’s going on? You both look like you are about to cry.” Charlotte set her food on the table. “Are the boys playing?”

“Yes, they are, and don’t discuss anything until I get back. I’m going for coffee,” Stella said.

She wished she could talk to her mother, too. She wished that she could tell her that she didn’t need a husband because she already had one but first they had to make sure that Jed’s job was secure. In two years the church would be used to Stella as the preacher’s wife, but letting the cat out of the bag now could be a disaster. She’d seen it happen when she was a teenager, and Cadillac hadn’t changed all that much.

She didn’t have to stand in line, so in just a few minutes she returned with two large cups of coffee. “Now tell us both, what’s that bastard Gene done now?”

“It was the pancakes. I held it together until one of the boys mentioned pancakes,” Piper said and went on to tell them what Gene had said. “He never, ever brought me breakfast in bed. Not one time. Not even when we were first married.”

“He’s probably just saying that to rile you up,” Charlotte said.

“Well, it worked. Especially the part about taking her nieces to Six Flags.”

“He really is a sorry bastard for doing that. He should have taken Luke and Tanner,” Stella said.

“Boone and the guys are all cooking fish tonight at the park and he said to invite you and the kids. They’ll get lots of attention there and it’ll be more fun than an old amusement park, anyway. It’s Gene’s loss, believe me,” Charlotte said.

Piper wiped her eyes and a smile broke through the tears. “What time and what can I bring?”

“Not a thing. Boone said it was all covered,” Charlotte said.

“Oh, no, I need to do something, and cooking helps calm my nerves and keeps me from cussin’ in front of the boys. I’ll make potato salad and baked beans. You call Boone and tell him I’m bringing enough of both to feed an army.”

Luke and Tanner ran back to see if Stella and Charlotte were finished eating. “We done slid down three times and we’re ready for ice cream.”

“You guys want to go to a fish fry at the park tonight? Boone and Charlotte have invited us,” Piper asked.

“This for sure is the bestest weekend ever. I’ll bring my Frisbee and baseball,” Luke said.

“Hey, Mama, can we I borrow your phone?” Tanner asked.

“Why?”

“I want to tell Boone thank you and to tell him to bring his ball glove,” Tanner said.

Charlotte handed her phone to Tanner. “Use mine. It’s speed dial one, honey. He should answer real quick. He was going home to get everything ready and finish cleaning the fish for tonight and then take a nap, but he’s not asleep yet.”

Luke followed his brother to the far corner of the restaurant, made the phone call, and then bet his brother he could beat him to the car. They barely stopped long enough to give the phone to Charlotte before the race was on.

“Competition. Mercy heavens, it’s always a competition between them. They’re in such a hurry they forgot ice cream,” Piper said. “See y’all this evening, and thanks.”

“For what?” Stella asked.

“For being here for me when I cry over pancakes.”





CHAPTER FIVE

Stella’s small white frame house with a picket fence around the yard was located three blocks south of Agnes’s big two-story that sat right on Main Street. Her beauty shop was two blocks east of Agnes’s house and the park was two blocks east and one north of that. It was a hot summer night but she hadn’t gone for a run in more than a week and although she wouldn’t dream of showing up all sweaty to a fish fry with her friends, it wouldn’t hurt her to walk eight blocks. Besides, her mama said that southern women might get all dewy but sweating was for menfolks, not ladies.

A pang of sorrow washed over her. She missed her mother and the Sunday dinner and she wanted to tell her all about that rotten Gene and invite her to the fish fry, but she couldn’t. Damn Heather and her precious Prayer Angels, anyway!

She dressed in denim shorts, a bright-red tank top, and her walking shoes, put on a baseball cap, pulled her curly red ponytail out of the hole in the back, and shoved her house key into her pocket. A hot wind picked up sometime during the second block. She passed a house with little kids playing in the water hose and wished that she was four again so she could romp through spraying water in her underpants.

Thirst had set in by the third block. She’d just proven for absolute certain that dew was something that appeared on the grass and had nothing to do with pure old sweat.

“What in the hell are you doing walkin’ in this weather, tryin’ to kill yourself? Get yourself up here on this porch with me before you drop down dead with a heatstroke, girl,” Agnes yelled.

Stella didn’t have to be told or invited twice. She climbed the steps out of the blistering-hot evening sun and sank into a chair. Agnes poured a glass of ice-cold sweet tea and handed it to her.

“Drink and don’t come up for air until it’s half-gone. You damn kids don’t have a lick of sense. You don’t go out walkin’ or runnin’ in hun’erd-degree weather. You sit on the porch and drink sweet tea. Where are you goin’, anyway? Shop is closed today and tomorrow both,” Agnes asked.