The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(5)

She inhaled deeply and whispered, “Dear Lord, what has she done?”

Charlotte’s needles clicked as she created a lovely cable pattern on the baby blanket she was working on. “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d picked one out. Now she’s not the only one looking for a husband for you—the whole town will join in the manhunt. And as far as the preacher reading the list, darlin’, I wouldn’t care if that man read the dictionary on Sunday morning. I’d drool no matter what he read. He’s so sexy it’s a shame he’s a preacher.”

“The preacher?” Piper asked.

Charlotte looked up from her knitting with a twinkle in her eyes. “Yes, ma’am!”

“You are engaged! You shouldn’t be looking at other men like that.” Stella sat up straight, dry-eyed and unblinking.

“That don’t mean I’m dead. I might diet on occasion, but it don’t mean I can’t look at the ice cream at the grocery store. Mmmmm, ice cream on the preacher’s—”

Stella grabbed a bottle of window cleaner and headed toward the front of the shop. “I’ve got to do something to keep from taking a sledgehammer to that sign.”

Piper hollered over the sound of running water, “I just did those windows yesterday.”

“I know you did, but my hands are shaking and Charlotte talking about the preacher’s equipment isn’t helping one bit,” Stella said.

“I wasn’t going to say his equipment.” Charlotte giggled. “I was going to say his Bible. And besides, God is too busy scouring the earth for a husband for you to be busy slinging lightning at me, so come on back over here and sit down.”

“You’re lyin’, girlfriend! The look on your face had nothing to do with the Good Book,” Piper said.

Stella didn’t see anything funny in any of it, not the Angels, the sign, or the comments. An ominous black cloud hung above her, and the air was static with electricity. The Yellow Rose would have clean windows and a gorgeous display window, but could it withstand all the gossip? Would her clients leave her and go to Ruby’s down the street? Worse yet, could her love life withstand the scrutiny? It wouldn’t surprise her one bit to be out on the street with nothing but an overdue bank note and a broken heart.

Absolutely nothing could get worse.

And then her mother waved at her from the other side of the window.

“Good mornin’, girls.” Nancy breezed through the front door. “I had to make an early morning run up to Sherman, so I brought y’all a dozen doughnuts. Why are you cleaning those windows? Didn’t Charlotte do them yesterday?”

Stella’s jaw ached from clamping it shut so tightly. If she opened her mouth, the words that spewed out would take the paint right off the wall.

“No, ma’am, I cleaned them yesterday,” Piper said.

Charlotte put her knitting to the side and made a hasty retreat to the back room to organize the stock shelves.

Nancy set the doughnuts on the coffee table in front of the dryers. “What’s going on in this place? All of a sudden it’s quiet as a funeral. Y’all know something I don’t. Did someone die? Oh, no, has your Agnes Flynn died, Trixie?”

“No, ma’am,” Trixie said. “She’s alive and well and believe me, she will be meddlin’ in whatever happens next in Cadillac. You seen the sign down at the church?”

“What sign?” Nancy asked.

Trixie handed her phone to Piper. She found the picture and held it out to Nancy.

“Oh, no! I didn’t tell them to do that. I just . . . oh, shit! The prayer list is confidential . . .”

“Not when they read it on Sunday morning before services,” Charlotte said.

“I didn’t think about that. Lord love a duck.” She gasped her favorite saying.

“I’m really, really pissed off, Mama,” Stella said around the lump in her throat and the heaviness in her chest.

Nancy popped her hands on her hips. “Well, I’ve tried everything else. I’ve practically dragged men off the streets to find you a husband. You won’t take care of business, so maybe God and the Angels can. Heather is responsible for that sign, so don’t blame me. And I will not apologize for praying for you.”

Stella took several steps forward, tiptoed slightly, and went nose to nose with her mother. “That prayer list is for the sick and folks who are needy. Shit fire, Mama! It’s not for a husband or a new car or a new boat. What if Agnes did need the prayers and died because y’all were praying for a husband to fall out of the clouds and into my life?”

Nancy pushed back her naturally curly salt-and-pepper hair, but she didn’t blink as she stood her ground against Stella. “The Good Book says to ask and it shall be given. It does not say what you can or cannot ask for. It just says to ask believing and the desires of your heart will be granted. I desire a grandbaby and I’m asking. It does not say that you cannot ask for a son-in-law or a new car or a new boat. But don’t tell your daddy that. All I’ve heard since he retired is that his fishing boat is too small since he can go every day now.”

“This is not about Daddy’s fishin’ boat, and you’d better be careful what you ask for. It all could come back around and bite you square on the ass. Everyone in town thinks I need a husband because I’m pregnant. If you want a grandbaby maybe I could arrange that without a husband,” Stella said tersely.