The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(81)

“I brought the preacher with me,” Everett said. “He ain’t got church tonight and he volunteered.”

“Thank you,” Piper yelled from the kitchen. “I’ll take all the help I can get.”

Everett touched his wife on the shoulder. “Okay, Nancy, you’re the organizer. What do we do first?”

“The living room. Take all the furniture out and put it in Boone’s trailer and truck. Those”—she pointed to the boxes lined up on the wall—“are to go in the same truck and trailer. We’ll unload that one last when we get there. When that’s all done, I’ll tell you what to do next and y’all can grab a bowl of soup while you rest.”

Stella poked Piper on the arm. “See, I told you. Controlling.”

“You say ta-mah-toe while I say to-may-toe. You say controlling. I say organizing,” Piper said.

Charlotte removed the lid from the enormous Crock-Pot and took a whiff of the vegetable beef soup. “I say I’m hungry and we should eat. That way us four ladies will be done and the guys can have the kitchen table to sit at before they load it up.”

Nancy nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me. Cut that pan of cornbread, Stella. Piper, you can put ice in glasses and pour sweet tea. Charlotte, you get the disposable bowls out of the sack I brought. There’s also plastic spoons and a soup ladle and napkins in there.”

“Want me to cut the brownies, too, boss lady?” Stella asked.

Nancy cut her eyes around at Stella. “I’m leaving my organizational skills to Charlotte instead of you.”

“That’s a good thing, Mama. I’m going to be busy filling Agnes’s shoes,” Stella shot back.

“You do remind me of her, but those are some big boots for you to fill.”

“Agnes wears flip-flops, not boots,” Charlotte said. “And to my thinking, I’ll have some big ones to fill, too, if you leave me your skills. There’s no way we could have packed everything in one evening without you.”

Piper nodded. “And I thank you all. I can’t believe we are getting it done so fast.”

Nancy patted her on the shoulder. “Now let’s get to work. When the guys get it all loaded, Piper will drive her van and go with them. That way she can tell them where to put things. You two”—she pointed at Stella and Charlotte—“will stay behind with me and we’re going to wipe down countertops, vacuum, and be sure everything is completely ready for the new renters. That way Piper doesn’t have to come back here for anything. They can bring her rent money down to the shop.”

Piper hugged Nancy. “Thank you.”

Nancy yelled into the living room, “Jed, come in here and bless this food before we eat it and then there will be room at the table for you guys.”

Jed set down the box that he’d just picked up, dusted his hands on the seat of his jeans, and headed toward the kitchen. He bowed his head, said a quick grace, and inhaled deeply. “Just smelling that good soup will make us work faster. We do get to eat right after we get the living room loaded, don’t we?”

“Yes, you do,” Stella said. “We’ll be finished by then and you can have our chairs.”

“Come on, Jed. You’ve had time to say four graces by now,” Everett yelled. “I need help with this sofa. Holy shit, Piper! Is this damn thing made out of concrete?”

Piper swallowed and yelled back, “I bought a sturdy one. I’ve got two boys, remember? You sure you want me to move to the country?”

“Jed, call in the other two. It’ll take all four of us to get this damn thing in the trailer,” Everett said.

“Guess Preacher Jed is getting an earful of cusswords,” Stella whispered in her mother’s direction.

Nancy sighed. “I imagine he prays for your daddy’s soul every night. I heard today that your boyfriend has been slipping in the bedroom window at night. That’s a little bit juvenile, don’t you think, Stella? He could come right in the front door.”

“Mama!” Stella’s eyes popped wide-open.

Nancy smiled. “Don’t look at me like that. Rosalee told me and when I asked her how she knew, she said that was an FBU secret. I get a big kick out of the way that she and Agnes get things turned around. I’m sure she was talking about the FBI, but I didn’t say a word.”

“I’m not sayin’ a word. She’s coverin’ for me tonight about why I’m moving,” Piper said. “But I did hear down at the convenience store this afternoon that Stella’s boyfriend is an ex-con and she don’t want her mama to know she’s fallen in love with a man who has tattoos and a record.”

“Oh, my God!” Nancy’s voice carried all over the kitchen.

“He doesn’t have a record,” Stella protested.

“Tattoos?” Nancy raised an eyebrow.

Stella shrugged. “You didn’t tell them to put that on the billboard at the church. You just said a husband. You should’ve been more specific if you don’t like tats. And, Mama, now that the whole town knows he’s visiting me, I guess I gave him his own drawer in my dresser for nothing.” She hadn’t meant to say that last sentence, but there it was hanging over the table like heavy smoke in a cheap honky-tonk.

“You have a boyfriend and you gave him a drawer in your bedroom. This is serious, Stella Joy.” Nancy clapped her hands like a little girl. “I’m going to get a son-in-law and I don’t give a shit if he’s got a dozen tattoos as long as he treats you like a queen.”