The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (Cadillac, Texas #3)(97)
Heather tilted up the third cup and gulped it down. When she set it down, her eyes were glazed and she grabbed the edge of the table. “This corset is really tight. I . . . oh, my sweet Gee . . . Gee . . . shus . . . what in the devil is Agnes Flynn wearing?”
“It’s cute as a button, ain’t it,” Piper said. “Carlene down at the Bless My Bloomers store created it from some old kitchen curtains and a pair of overalls for her. Have you shopped there? I do all the time. They have the sexiest things for us tall folks as well as chubby ladies. I’m sure you could find something that would turn Quinn on.”
Heather’s nose snarled as she tilted her chin up a notch. “That is a naughty panty store. I wouldn’t be caught dead in there. I do believe this corshit is cutting off my cirsulation.”
“Hello, Heather, darlin’. Are you havin’ trouble breathing?” Charlotte was suddenly at her side, hooking an arm through hers and leading her to a nearby table. “Come on over here and sit beside me.”
Floy wandered up to the punch table and nodded at Piper. “I do believe it’s almost time for you to join the ladies. I will take over from here.”
Piper handed her the ladle and headed toward the stairs. If anyone ever questioned the punch, Floy would swear on a stack of Bibles that it didn’t have a drop of liquor in it. And she’d be right. The three cups that Heather sucked down so quickly had come from behind the punch bowl and Piper had already poured them about a fourth full of vodka before she ever added the punch to them. The empty vodka bottle was tucked away safely in her purse and she’d leave it under the balcony seats. Now it was up to Charlotte to do the job Agnes had assigned to her.
“Heather, darlin’, I have a huge favor to ask of you. You can say no, but it will make me so sad, and frankly, honey, with this onset of the vapors I don’t think you’re up to reading the names anyway,” Charlotte said.
“I do feel a bit faint,” Heather said. “But I am not delicatsh. I’m strong enough to be a marriage minishter.”
Charlotte decided to go bold instead of sneaking up on Heather’s blind side. “I will give you one thousand dollars to let me call out the names. I have it right here.” She pulled out an envelope with ten one-hundred-dollar bills in it. “You can count them if you want. That will go a long way toward getting your marriage ministry out of the red.”
“I can’t. It’s my job as the marri . . . marri . . . the minishter to call the names.”
“I happen to know that you are more than a thousand dollars in the hole on this party,” Charlotte said.
“It’s a ball. A fancy dress ball. Why, there is my aunt Violet. Doesn’t she look pretty in her black sha . . . sha . . . satin?” She finally spit the word out properly. “Even in the wheelchair. I should go talk to her.” She looked at the envelope lying in front of her and back at Charlotte. “Why do you want to do this so bad?”
“Because I heard that someone put Violet’s name in the single women’s bowl. I wouldn’t want to call it out with Rhett Monroe and start a bunch of rumors about her liking younger men and paying them to go to bed with her,” Charlotte whispered.
Heather covered her eyes with her hands. “Oh, no! They wouldn’t say that about an old woman.”
“I heard that she’s been flirting with him and the way you are feeling faint, you might say her name before you think. I’ll make sure that if I pull her name out I hide it in my bra,” Charlotte said.
Heather picked up the money. “Go on. Just protect my sweet aunt.”
Charlotte made her way to the middle of the dance floor, where a small table had been set up with three fishbowls on it. She picked up the microphone and said, “Good evening, folks. Let’s give a big round of applause to everyone who has made this barn dance possible.”
“Barbecue ball,” Heather mouthed from across the room, but no one heard her above the noise.
“And we need to thank all the ladies who’ve brought the barbecue and the side dishes, which we will turn y’all loose on here as soon as we draw up the names of the couples and they enjoy their first dance. So let’s have another round for the cooks,” Charlotte said.
Agnes gave her the thumbs-up sign.
“I saw some of the ladies all dolled up and I know you menfolks are champin’ at the bit to get this show on the road. I’ll be drawing the married and engaged folks’ names first. Sugar and Jamie Magee, come on down!” she yelled like a game show host.
Heather had her hands over her ears.
It took ten minutes to get through the slips of paper in that bowl and then she started on the next two bowls. “Rhett Monroe and . . . let’s see . . . will you be dancing with Violet Prescott or maybe Agnes Flynn?”
Everyone laughed and then it got quiet. “Looks like I was wrong. Your date for the evening is Piper Stephens. And the next bachelor is Gene Stephens. How’s that for luck folks, two Stephenses in a row? And your date for the evening is Macy Bardeen. Come on down here on the dance floor. Don’t be shy, Macy darlin’.”
Stella sat down beside her father, close enough that she could whisper in his ear much like she’d done in the limo with her mother. “Daddy, I need to tell you something before Jed makes an announcement here.”
“He’s your husband.” Everett chuckled.
Carolyn Brown's Books
- The Sometimes Sisters
- The Magnolia Inn
- The Strawberry Hearts Diner
- Small Town Rumors
- Wild Cowboy Ways (Lucky Penny Ranch #1)
- The Trouble with Texas Cowboys (Burnt Boot, Texas #2)
- Life After Wife (Three Magic Words Trilogy, #3)
- In Shining Whatever (Three Magic Words Trilogy #2)
- The Barefoot Summer
- One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)