The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(88)

“And I don’t deny or affirm one thing, so there,” Stella said. “Trixie, has Piper been watching the clock like the end of the world was coming?”

Trixie leaned forward so that Piper could get to the last bit of hair with the curling iron. “Yes, she has. And the news in the café this morning is that Gene’s new woman broke it off with him, changed churches, and told him to never call her again. And this is for your ears only.” She lowered her voice.

“Oh?” Stella leaned closer.

“What’s said in the Yellow Rose stays in the beauty shop, right?” Trixie asked.

“Only a psychiatrist’s office is more sacred than this place,” Piper said.

Trixie went on, “He thinks he’s getting a promotion at the company picnic and he’s goin’ to win a trip to Hawaii. But neither one is happenin’. He’s still got a job but he ain’t gettin’ no fancy office with his name on the door. He’s still just a cubicle person at that company where he works and his hours are being cut so he won’t be working full-time,” she said.

“How do you know that?” Piper asked.

“Agnes isn’t the only one with a snitch on the payroll,” she said.

“Trixie!” Stella exclaimed.

“Well, I haven’t had to hire one for wet work, as they call it on the television, but I do have a little fund earmarked for that if it becomes necessary.” Her phone rang and she took it from her pocket, put it to her ear without saying a word, listened for a minute, and then hit a button and put it back in her pocket. “I’ve got to run up to Bless My Bloomers. Alma Grace heard something that she can’t or won’t repeat on the phone.”

As soon as Trixie had left Charlotte singsonged, “One week until the ball and then we’ll know who Stella’s seeing.”

“Nine hours until my boys are home and I hope they like what I’ve done.” Piper’s off-key voice came right in behind Charlotte’s.

“This has been a month to remember, hasn’t it?” Stella sat down in her chair and fluffed at her red hair. She was so ready to be Jed’s wife, to live with him and wake up every single morning with him beside her. She was ready to take on the battle of being his wife, if she had to knock Heather square on her ass to get the job done. It was long overdue and Stella was up to the job.

“Agnes will be so proud when she finds out.” Stella could hardly wait to share the news of her marriage and really start a new life with Jed, right out in public for the whole world to know about.

“What’s that about Agnes? I’m wondering what she’ll say about me getting sexy things from Bless My Bloomers for my bridal shower. Earth to Stella! Where is your mind?” Charlotte snapped her fingers in front of Stella’s face.

“My mind was on telling y’all who I’ve been seeing. To answer your question, Agnes will entertain us for hours about sexy underwear,” Stella said.

“I’ve got a confession,” Piper said. “I hated the idea of you having a man in your life when Nancy put your name on that list at the church. I didn’t ever want you to get hurt like I did and I couldn’t bear for you to ever get married. I prayed that God wouldn’t hear the Angels and that he’d make Charlotte see that she didn’t need to get married, either.”

“That was mean,” Charlotte said.

Piper’s head bobbed up and down in agreement. “I know and I apologize.”

“Y’all know I’m about half-superstitious,” Stella said. “So I’m wondering if your prayers is why Charlotte felt the way she did. Up until my name got on that list, Charlotte was floating around in bridal cake heaven.”

Piper clapped a hand over her eyes. “Oh, no! I didn’t think my prayers got past the ceiling. They sure didn’t when I prayed that Gene would come back to his family that week he divorced me.”

“Sometimes God says no when it’s for your own good,” Charlotte said.

“Are you still my friends?” Piper asked.

“We’ve been through worse. Hell, we’ve been through wars, not piddlin’ little arguments,” Charlotte said. “Y’all have held my head up when I upchucked because I was so worried that Boone would break up with me over that floozy that moved in here from Dallas when we were seniors in high school.”

“And you held my hair back for me when I turned twenty-one and got so damned drunk and when I wanted to die when that damn boy bragged all over church and town that we’d had sex in his truck.” Stella smiled.

“And we didn’t tell Nancy, either,” Piper said.

Stella put her head in her hands. “Believe me, she knew. I can still see her peeling peaches at the kitchen sink. She told me that we live with the choices we make and learn from them and when I made a mistake to hold my head up and not make the same one twice.”

“She might have been talking about one of your short skirts or you wearing too much makeup to church,” Piper said.

“No, she knew.”

“My mama would have harped on it for a week,” Piper said.

“Mine would still be fussin’,” Charlotte told them.

The door swung open and Stella looked up, expecting to see her first appointment of the day. But it was a lady with a floral delivery.