The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(85)

“Thank you.” Trixie flashed a smile.

“Some folks like to relive the negative gossip. We’d all be better off if we had one of them delete buttons like on a computer on our memories. We could hit it when the gossip is malicious like it was with your mama, and like it was with Stella.” She paused and looked around the room that had gone quiet. “Never could figure out why folks acted like they did with either one of them. And I’m right sorry to bring this up, Stella, but Charlotte says it’s been worryin’ you lately.”

“Thank you.” Stella hugged Irene. “You are so sweet.”

“Just callin’ it like it should be. Now let’s talk about this barbecue ball. I swear I ain’t never heard of anything so silly in my life.”

“You gossipin’, Mama?” Charlotte chuckled.

“No, I am not. I’m statin’ my opinion. Gossip is unfounded bullshit. Opinions are ours by rights of the Constitution.”



Nancy parked close to the door into the fellowship hall and hurried across the hot parking lot inside the cool church. Heather was already standing behind the podium with her minions sitting around a long table. She shot a dirty look Nancy’s way and tilted her head up.

“We had given up on you. This is our last meeting before the ball and we’re just going over our duties one more time,” she said.

Without the gold fingernail, she didn’t look nearly as authoritative. She wore a navy-blue pantsuit with a red-and-white-patterned silk shell under the jacket, a sparkly red crystal cross pin on her lapel, and red high-heeled shoes.

Nancy sat down in the only empty chair. “So how are we doing with the expenditures and the sold tickets? Are we working in the black or the red?”

“Floy.” Violet frowned.

Floy opened a hard-sided briefcase and brought out Heather’s notebook. She handed it to her and Heather flipped open the cover. “As of today we are a thousand dollars in the red, but we will make that up with tickets sold at the door and with the donations for the best barbecue. We only have a few more things to purchase—the angel candlesticks for the winner, and of course we will have to pay the bills for some of the inside decorations. The air conditioners and the tablecloths are paid for.”

Annabel raised her hand and said, “We will sell lots more tickets. Folks often wait until the last week to buy and I know several people who’ve bought dresses but haven’t bought tickets. You were a genius, Heather, to come up with the idea of each girl who buys a ticket bringing her own special barbecue.”

That was the last straw and she’d done her duty, so Nancy stood up and said, “I am resigning from the Angels. I will not be attending any more Thursday night meetings. I’m going to be too busy. I was going to wait until after the barbecue ball but since Everett and I are not responsible for the food, I’m resigning now. Good luck, Heather, with the rest of the preparations. I’ll be bringing my own special recipe for pulled pork in a Crock-Pot and I’d appreciate any donations y’all want to put in my can.”

“You can’t resign.” Heather raised her voice. “One does not simply resign from praying.”

“I’ll continue to pray, but not on Thursday nights with all y’all.”

“I forbid it. I will not accept your resignation,” Heather said in a louder voice.

Nancy started for the door. “I can damn well do whatever the hell I want.”

Heather’s voice raised another octave and got downright squeaky. “Don’t you swear in the church. You aren’t fit for the Angels.”

Nancy smiled. “You got it, darlin’.”

Beulah went to wringing her hands. “Please tell me you aren’t going to change churches.”

“Hell, no!” Nancy said. “I’m staying right here. It’s where I’ve gone my whole life, but I’m finished with committees and clubs. I’ve got a life to live and I don’t need any of this drama.”

“Well said, Nancy,” Rosalee said from just inside the door.

Heather turned her attention and fury in that direction. “What are you doing here? You don’t go to church here anymore. You go down to that one on Main Street with Agnes.”

“Making sure that you don’t shoot Nancy or scratch her eyes out since Agnes is laid up and can’t take care of the job,” Rosalee said.

“The both of you can get out of here. That is an order,” Heather said. “I heard you were down at Piper Stephens’s place last night helping her move into the house with Rhett Monroe. Anyone that sanctions that kind of immorality shouldn’t be allowed in our church.”

Rosalee grinned so big that her eyes disappeared. “Hell, Heather, if we kicked out all the sinners, who’d pay the tithes to keep this place runnin’? It does require a lot of money to pay the electric bill, the water bill, and buy toilet paper. And I bet you dollars to cow shit that you and Quinn did some hanky-panky before you got married. We just didn’t know it because it went on in Ripley instead of Cadillac.”

Nancy picked up the cue. “I thought she was from Tulsa? Where in the hell is Ripley?”

“It’s a suburb of Tulsa,” Heather stammered.

“I see. Well, I’ll be leaving. Y’all have a good day,” Nancy said.