The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(21)

“Stop it right now. I’m tellin’ you I’m not through being mad at Gene and it’s not time to start a new relationship even if my boys think Jed has wings and a halo,” Piper told them.

All that talk about getting Stella married off must have put the ringing of wedding bells in her two best friends’ heads. She could understand Charlotte trying to play matchmaker, but not Stella. That redhead was on a mission to prove her mama wrong, so she shouldn’t be pushing her toward the preacher.

Whoa! Wait just a damn minute. Hold the horses and don’t fire the cannons. Stella was flushed and her eyes were twinkling like they did when she was hiding something. New boyfriend was in their midst; Piper could feel the vibes and the sparks. Now it was just a matter of figuring out which one of those single men was the one. She scanned the group as she started back toward the picnic table and bit back the gasp.

Sweet Jesus! Stella had to be sleeping with Boone’s older brother, Rhett, who was over there helping fry fish. He had done the rodeo rounds and he’d driven a truck back when he was in college and she’d said that her secret boyfriend had done those things. That’s exactly who it was and she didn’t want to tell anyone because Rhett had always been Cadillac’s resident bad boy. Nancy was going to go up in flames if that praying business netted her Rhett Monroe for a son-in-law.

Well, dammit! Charlotte and Stella would be sisters-in-law—would that leave her out in the cold? No, but it could change the dynamics among the whole bunch of them.

“How did Agnes get here?” Piper asked to take her mind off the idea of being a third wheel in the family.

“She waylaid me with sweet tea when I was about to have a heatstroke and offered to drive me the rest of the way,” Stella answered.

“And which one of these cowboys are you sleeping with? I know it’s one of them, so fess up. I can feel the vibes comin’ off you like a heat wave and it don’t have a thing to do with the hundred-degree weather, either. Is it Rhett?” Piper said.

Stella set the potato salad on the table with a thud. “What makes you think I’d be interested in Rhett?”

“You said the worst choice in the whole world. Nancy is going to pass plumb out when she hears that you are sleeping with Rhett. She might refuse to keep a grandbaby if he fathers it.”

Stella gasped. “Shhh . . . ?”

“No one heard me,” Piper said. “But believe me I will be watching you. I wish your mama was here rather than spending time with that bossy Heather tonight. She’d be smart enough to figure out who your boyfriend is.”

“What if it is Rhett?” Stella said.

“What about my future brother-in-law?” Charlotte asked after joining their circle.

“He makes the best fish in the whole county. We should have a fish festival instead of a chili cook-off,” Stella said quickly.

“That ain’t about to happen. The chili cook-off is a tradition and you know how the old folks in Cadillac are about tradition. But guess what I heard this afternoon?” Charlotte said.

“What?” Piper whispered.

With a head motion toward Piper’s car, she mouthed, “Follow me.”

“Man, those beans smell good,” Rhett said.

“Mama’s special recipe.” Piper smiled. “Fish about ready?”

Rhett flashed a brilliant grin. “Oh, yeah. We’re going to start servin’ it up in five minutes, and you look mighty nice this evening, Miz Piper.”

Rhett was even sexier than his younger brother, Boone. Both of the brothers were tall, dark, and handsome, but Rhett had an air about him that drew women like a flame brings in the moths. His eyes were darker brown than Boone’s, his face more chiseled, and that cleft in his chin flat spelled danger.

Charlotte had fallen for the right Monroe boy back in high school, though. Boone was the steady one, the one who’d make a good husband and father. Rhett had the reputation of never sticking around in a relationship long enough to get past the third or fourth date. Suddenly, Piper wasn’t sure she wanted to be right about her best friend’s new fellow, but being Stella’s best friend, it was her job to find out more about Rhett before she passed judgment.

“Thank you, Rhett. I’ve got to go unlock the trunk of my car so we can get the napkins and extra paper plates.” Piper smiled.

“Need some help?” he asked.

“No, Charlotte and Stella are already headed that way, but thank you.”

The two women had their heads together, whispering, and Piper couldn’t wait to find out what it was all about. She pushed between them and looked from one to the other.

“Okay, what’d I miss? My Lord, Stella, you are white as a ghost,” Piper asked.

“I just told her what Agnes found out from Beulah a couple of minutes ago,” Charlotte said out the side of her mouth. “I happened to be standing close enough that Agnes told me when she finished talkin’.”

“She didn’t. They didn’t. My God!” Stella said.

“What? Who did what?” Piper asked again.

“It has been decided that Cadillac needs something more formal than the chili cook-off and the Fourth of July thing at the football field and the jubilee,” Charlotte said.

“A fish festival after all?” Piper asked.

Agnes joined them. “Did you tell Stella?”