The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(30)

“You can have the carrot cake for half price since it’s the last item, and that will make us two hundred and ten dollars. Enough to buy twenty-one haircuts,” Beulah said. “Y’all got a list of the fellows you are giving them to?”

“Yes, we do,” Floy said.

“And Preacher Jed and Rhett Monroe are not on it, right?” Nancy said.

“You are getting almighty picky for a woman who didn’t care if her daughter married a poor old feller who pumps gas,” Heather smarted off.

“Why not Rhett Monroe? He’s got a job and he’s very nice lookin’,” Floy asked.

“You know his reputation. I want a son-in-law, not a live-in boyfriend. Rhett Monroe won’t ever settle down and get married. And good God almighty . . .” Nancy handed Beulah a five-dollar bill and went on, “Stella can’t marry a preacher. Everett would have to clean up his language and that ain’t about to happen.”

“And besides, can’t you just see Stella as the preacher’s wife.” Heather chuckled.

Nancy shot Heather a drop-graveyard-dead look, letting the hussy have the last word. If the cake tasted like freezer burn, it was still the best five dollars she ever spent just to get off that hot porch. Maybe she’d give it to Everett and tell him to mix it up with that stinky stuff he used to make fish bait.

Heather tilted her chin up a notch. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

Nancy silently asked God nicely if she could knock a smart-ass woman who wasn’t thirty out into the dirt but the only answer she got was a loud booming, “No!” in her soul. So she raised her head and smiled at the ladies. “I’m headed to the house, where it’s air-conditioned. Everett and Preacher Jed have gone fishin’, so I intend to read a big thick romance book all evening while the air conditioner blows right down on me.”

“Your cussin’ husband is out fishin’ with our dear Jed.” Heather’s tone said that she was totally aghast at such horrible news.

“Strange, ain’t it?” Nancy grinned. “They’ve formed a pretty tight friendship the last few days. Jed overlooks Everett’s cussin’ and Everett says he’s a serious fisherman.”

“Our poor Jed is trying to save his soul, I’m sure. Now please tell me that you don’t read those books with naked-breasted men on the front, do you? If you do, I shall have to pray for your sinning soul. I’m sure God does not approve,” Heather said.

“Honey, what do you do when you crawl into bed with your husband? Do you have twin beds and have one of those marriages where you don’t touch each other? God made men and women different so that when they have sex they can become one flesh. And besides, he’s probably busy with much more important things than listening to prayers about what I read,” Nancy said.

Heather blushed and stammered, but intelligent words would not come out of her mouth.

“Oh, my! Oh, my!” Beulah twisted at her hankie. “Do they really put stuff like that in those books?”

Nancy laughed. “The one that’s made its way to the top of my big stack of to-be-read books is one by Grace Burrowes titled Ethan. I just can’t wait to get all involved with it. And yes, they describe sex in the books, Beulah. You want to borrow one, Heather? I’ve got some really descriptive ones that might help you with your marriage.”

Heather set her mouth in a firm line that said she was disappointed that a member of the Angels would read anything other than the Bible or maybe one of those inspirational-for-the-soul books. “Don’t you dare bring one of those dirty books around me.”

Nancy couldn’t back down now because she’d promised Agnes that she’d keep her informed of what was going on from inside the marriage ministry camp. But she hadn’t promised that she wouldn’t take up for Stella while she was infiltrating the enemy’s camp. No, ma’am! And Heather had better begin to understand that Nancy’s endurance level was getting mighty slim.



Looking out the window at Rhett playing with her sons, Piper wished that she could go by the ranch and tell Nancy that everything was going to be all right. She wished that she could knock some sense into Stella’s hard head about the silly fight with her mother. But since she couldn’t do either, she’d just bask in the glory of being right about Rhett and Stella.

Luke hit the back door in a blur, dashed off to the bathroom, and then came back through the kitchen on his way out. “We need three bottles of water, Mama. Playin’ baseball is tough work. I’m glad Preacher Jed went fishin’ with Mr. Baxter. Me and Tanner like Rhett better.”

Piper loaded him up with water and he dashed off again. Better than Preacher Jed, who had a halo and wings. That was quite a statement and her grandmother had told her more than once that you can’t fool kids and dogs. She bet if there was a dog or a cat or even a pet hamster, it would like Rhett Monroe, too.

But then, the kids at church literally flocked around Jed Tucker, too. Piper was amazed that one of the single women in Cadillac hadn’t already gone after him in a serious way. He was sexy, kind, sweet, and loved kids—every woman’s dream. So why wasn’t Stella interested in him?

“Oh, yeah? That damned old scandal back when she was just a teenager with the preacher’s son. We should have rallied around her and hung that boy with a length of rusty barbed wire,” she mumbled and then snorted in suppressed laughter. “Besides, Stella would never be interested in a preacher, not after that shit that went on back then.”