Charlotte popped the chair up into a sitting position. “And the look on your face says that you’ve been to bed with the wearer of Stetson in the last few hours. Maybe sooner since it only takes about ten minutes to drive from the nursing home to here at this time of night. Like I said, we’re your friends. You can’t sneeze without us knowing where you’ve been and whether there was ragweed there. Just be grateful that you’ve gotten away with your secret this long, girlfriend.”
Stella crossed her arms over her chest. “Have you been stalking me?”
Piper shook her head and stretched. “Hell, no! We wouldn’t do that. Besides, who needs to? The gossip comes right to us over a hotline. We know you’ve been parking at the nursing home to hide your car. And Trixie didn’t mean to tattle. She thought we knew you were hiding it there.”
Stella slumped down in a rocking chair, shut her eyes, and groaned. “I forgot about Trixie’s mama.”
“We’ve sworn Trixie to secrecy. She swears she won’t tell Cathy and Marty and for damn sure not Agnes,” Piper said quickly.
“So who is he?” Charlotte asked.
“I have been seeing someone. I’m not ready to tell anyone who he is, but I will tell y’all that fate is a bitch. I’m probably the worst woman on the face of the earth for him and it’s going to be a secret for a while longer. And all this prayer shit couldn’t have come at a worse time,” Stella said without opening her eyes.
“Why would you be the worst woman . . . oh, that?” Charlotte said.
“Yes, that. You know small towns. Cadillac won’t ever forget or ever forgive. I’m not so sure I can, so why should I expect them to,” she said.
“You shouldn’t have ever gone out with him,” Piper said.
They all three remembered that summer after their sophomore year. A preacher had come to town for a three-month tryout with intentions of staying if the hiring committee liked him. He’d had a seventeen-year-old son—dark haired, dark eyed, sexy as hell and as wild as a Texas tornado. Stella had lost her virginity to that preacher’s son on a hot summer night in the back of his pickup truck after they’d both drunk entirely too many beers. And the next day he’d bragged about it to all his new friends in the church.
It took less than twenty-four hours for her to go from a good little farm girl to a slut who’d seduced the preacher’s son. A week later the hiring committee decided that the boy’s father wasn’t what Cadillac needed and they were gone.
Stella had been left behind with a tainted reputation that was still remembered in whispers around town. Cadillac was not forgiving and it never forgot. That’s why she was so fearful of telling everyone she and Jed were married until he had signed the contract. Then she’d have a couple of years to show everyone that she wasn’t that wild child anymore.
“Good God! Is he another preacher’s son? That would serve Nancy right for the way she’s been trying to push you down the aisle, but we won’t stand by and let you marry a preacher’s son,” Charlotte said.
“We aren’t going to let you marry anyone at all. I’ll shoot him and Charlotte will help me bury him if she doesn’t want to. You can weep over his grave while we shovel dirt into it, but I won’t let my best friend get married. Is that understood? If Charlotte hadn’t already bought her dress when I got divorced, she wouldn’t be getting married, either,” Piper said.
“He’s definitely not a preacher’s son, so there won’t be any long black veils and weeping, or long white veils and walks down the aisle, either,” Stella said.
“Hey, you can have all the wild sex you want as long as there is no marriage at the end of it,” Piper said.
“Understood.” Stella crossed her fingers behind her back.
“And as long as you tell us his name,” Charlotte said.
“That ain’t happenin’. I will tell you that he used to be a truck driver and he did the rodeo circuit, but that’s all I’m sayin’. Now go home.”
Piper shook her head. “I’m comfortable right here. My house is empty and lonely since the boys are with their dad tonight. I brought my church clothes.”
Charlotte nodded. “Boone called from the riverbank. He and his buddies are having a good night. Fish are biting so they’re staying out until morning. I’m going back to sleep here. I’ll make biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast and clean up the dishes.”
Stella stood up and started down the short hall to her bedroom. “There are twin beds in the guest room. Y’all don’t have to sleep in the living room.”
“Well, thank you. We thought you’d never ask,” Charlotte said.
“Why didn’t you go to bed in there in the first place?”
“We were afraid we wouldn’t wake up when you came in,” Piper answered.
“If you’ll tell us his name, we’ll go home,” Charlotte said.
“Make up your beds before you leave. I’m not sitting with Mama and I’m not going to Sunday dinner, so don’t try to talk me into that tomorrow morning. She can deal with Daddy. And Charlotte, if you giggle when Jed reads that prayer list I’m going to shoot you the bird right there in church from the choir section and everyone will see me,” Stella said.
“I’m glad Luke and Tanner will be in children’s church. If they heard your name I’d have to answer a dozen questions. And no one would be surprised if you did something like waving around your middle finger, Stella. You are the wild child, remember?” Piper said.
Stella sighed. “Y’all go to bed. I’m going to take a shower. If my alarm doesn’t go off in the morning, wake me up in time to get dressed.”
“Yes, Mother.” Piper yawned. “I’ll sleep in your twin bed. I’ll clean up my mess after breakfast. I’ll fold up the quilt I used on the sofa and I don’t blame you for not going to Sunday dinner. But just for the record, your daddy adores you and he only gets to see you on Sunday most weeks. Why does he get punished because you are mad at your mama?”
“She’s right. Invite Everett to dinner at the Longhorn Café so y’all can at least talk,” Charlotte said.
“Or better yet, forgive your mama and put an end to this,” Piper said.
“Best friends aren’t supposed to lay a guilt trip on their friends,” Stella snapped.
“Best friends tell it like it is. Good night and I’m glad one of us had sex tonight.” Charlotte giggled.
“What the hell?” Piper mouthed as she saw her boys bounce out of her mother-in-law’s van and come running toward her.
“Where’s your daddy?” she asked.
“Gene had plans for the weekend,” Lorene said right behind them. “So he brought the boys to my house. We made cookies. They insisted that we bring some to you.” She held out a small brown paper bag. “What’s that sign all about?”
“Nancy put Stella on the prayer list.”
“That should cause a war in Cadillac,” Lorene said.
Piper hugged her sons. “Won’t be the first one and probably won’t be the last.”
Lorene shook her head slowly in disbelief. “Might be the biggest, though. What was Nancy thinking? It’ll be a riot before it’s all done and over. See you guys in a couple of weeks. Come give Grandma a hug.”
They left Piper’s side and quickly wrapped their arms around Lorene’s waist. She kissed them both on the forehead and waved out the window until they couldn’t see her anymore.
Piper’s jaws ached from clamping them shut so tightly. It wasn’t Lorene’s fault, and truth was that the twins probably had a better time at her house than they would have with Gene and his girlfriend. Still, it made her so mad that she could have hanged that man from the nearest pecan tree with a barbed-wire noose.
They weren’t identical twins. Tanner had blond hair, big blue eyes, and a thin face. Luke had a square face like his father, green eyes, and brown hair. Even though they didn’t look alike, they were true twins who thought alike, finishe
d each other’s sentences, and slept in the same position.
Tanner grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the church. “Mama, guess what. Grandpa took us fishin’ in his pond and Luke caught a perch and I caught a bass and Grandma cooked them for us. And it was like the fishes that Jesus had. They made a whole platter full of fish and we had all we wanted and there was some leftovers and it was the best fish ever. I can’t wait to tell Preacher Jed all about it. He’s teachin’ our Sunday school class now and I like him a whole lot.”
Luke held her other hand and skipped along beside her. “He’s the neatest preacher we’ve ever had. I wish he could go fishin’ with us. I bet he’d show us how to catch great big fishes.”
Piper led them into their class and nodded at the preacher, who was sitting on the floor with children all around him. Luke and Tanner quickly found a place as close to him as they could get. Instead of going to her classroom, she went back outside and leaned on her car. She dug her cell phone out of the bottom of her big purse and dialed the all-too-familiar number. Gene picked up on the fourth ring.
“Why are you calling this early? Didn’t Mama bring the boys back to you on time?” he asked gruffly.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you didn’t want the boys this weekend? You don’t have to take them and I miss them when they’re gone,” she said.
“Mama didn’t mind watching them. She and Dad get a big kick out of them and Rita and I had plans. We took her two nieces to Six Flags,” he said. “I don’t have time to argue with you this morning, Piper. I’m making pancakes for all the girls and they’re having breakfast in bed.”
That dirty bastard knew just how to push her buttons, and it took every bit of her willpower not to fry the airwaves with words that would melt the asphalt in the church parking lot.
“Anything else?” he asked.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” she answered.
The phone went dead in her hands and then rang before she could get it back into her purse. She groaned when she saw that it was Lorene. Lord, she’d had enough of Gene and his family, more than enough for a Sunday morning. She looked up at the church sign and mumbled, “I guess it could be a hell of a lot worse.”
She said, “Hello, Lorene. Did the boys forget something?”
“I wanted to talk to you but the boys were right there and I didn’t want to ask in front of them because it might have made it hard on you to say no and . . .”
A long pause and then Lorene went on to say, “Gene is our son and we still love him, Piper, even if we don’t understand or agree with what he is doing with his life. You’ve been a big part of our family for the past seven years, too, and we don’t want to cause trouble of any kind, but we do love having the boys. And, well,” she stammered. “Would you consider letting us have them on Saturdays? Or . . .” Another long pause. “I know they go to day care in the summertime and school is out and that has to cost a lot.”
Gene’s parents had been very quiet about the divorce. Lorene had called her once and begged her to give her son another chance, but it hadn’t been Piper’s decision to get the divorce and Gene had never asked for a second chance. If he had, Piper would have told him to go to hell.
“Yes, it does, but Gene does pay his child support and I use it for the day care center. In the fall, they’ll be in school all day and it costs only about half as much during that time,” Piper said.
“We’d like to keep the boys for you. I could pick them up in the morning before you go to work and their grandpa would be glad to bring them home in the evenings. Or you could just let us know each day when your last appointment is and we’ll deliver them to the shop. We get pretty lonely out here on the ranch since we’re both retired. We wouldn’t charge you anything, so you could put the money up for their education or use it to buy their school clothes and supplies this fall. Would you just think about it for a week?” Lorene spit out the words in a steady stream without catching her breath.
Piper held the phone out from her ear and looked at it. Was she hearing things?
“You still there?” Lorene yelled.
“I’m sorry. Did you just offer to keep the boys for free?”
“Yes, I did,” Lorene said. “Will you just think about it?”
“That is so sweet of y’all,” Piper said.
“I know you are off work on Sunday and Monday, but we could have them from Tuesday through Saturday, right?” Lorene asked.
“And on Gene’s weekends?” Piper asked.
“If he wants to see them or if he wants to take them, we can do that from right here,” Lorene said. “You wouldn’t have to deal with him. I think his papers say every other weekend from Friday night at six to Sunday at six, right? Of course, if we have them, we’d be glad to bring them home whenever you say on the weekends like we did this morning.”
“That would make it real easy for him to just run by and say hello, though, and not have much responsibility,” Piper said.
“I realize that, but we’ve told him we’ll take them any time that he has plans. We really want to be part of their lives, Piper. You’ll let us know your decision, then?” Lorene asked.
“Yes, I will think about it and I’ll talk to the boys about it. They have made friends at the day care, but I promise we will discuss it.”
“That’s all I can ask. If they decide to stay at the day care this summer, then please remember we are available any time if one of them doesn’t feel well or if they just want a day at the ranch,” Lorene said. “’Bye now. I’m at my church and it’s time to go inside.”
Piper looked up at the sky after she’d dropped the phone in her purse. “Well, how about that? Did some of those prayers for a husband for Stella get diverted my way?”
Charlotte had just taken her seat in church when Boone slid in beside her. His jeans were starched and ironed and his shirt had perfect creases down the arms. His cowboy boots were so shiny that she could see the reflection of her shoes in the sides of them. His brown eyes looked tired when he yawned.
She kissed him on the cheek and asked, “Good mornin’, darlin’. Did you catch a lot of fish?”
“We’ve got enough to have a big fish fry at the park. Bring Piper and her boys and Stella. We’ve invited Everett since he didn’t get to go with us last night,” Boone answered.
“What time?” she whispered.
“Six o’clock. Don’t bring a thing. This is on us. Wade and Marty are bringing desserts from Clawdy’s and Cathy and John offered to bring gallons of sweet tea and beer. I can’t wait to see you.” He stretched his long legs out under the pew in front of them. “I missed you last night, but believe me, I’m going to make it up to you tonight and neither of us has to work tomorrow, so we’re going to spend all day in bed. Speaking of which, right after lunch I’m going to take a long nap or I won’t be able to stay awake to cook fish or make wild passionate love to you either one,” Boone said.
Charlotte smiled. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
The noise level settled down immediately when Jed stepped up behind the podium and cleared his throat. “Good morning, everyone. It’s a fine morning, isn’t it? And aren’t we glad that the air-conditioning works this morning as hot as it’s turned out these past few days. I suppose you’ve all seen the sign that Heather has put up outside and most of you know that it’s our own pianist, Stella, that it is talking about. Nancy thinks she needs a husband.”
It started as a soft giggle somewhere in the back of the church and quickly turned into full-fledged laughter. Jed gave it a minute then held up his hand. “I don’t reckon we should limit the powers of God, so y’all feel free to pray for Stella if you want. Now I’ll take a minute and read the entire list.”
“Stella Baxter,” he said.
Stella rose up from the piano seat, waved at the whole congregation, and did a perfect curtsy.
Heather gl
ared at Stella.
Stella blew her a kiss before she sat back down.
“Thank goodness she didn’t show them her middle finger,” Piper whispered to Charlotte.
“Good God, Nancy, what have you done?” Everett said out the side of his mouth.
“I’m doing what I can to fix it,” she answered.
Immediately after the last amen was said, Stella went to the ladies’ room, put the potty lid down, sat down, and put her head in her hands. She’d vowed she wouldn’t let that black-haired hussy, Heather, see her crying or upset, but keeping a smile pasted on her face during the sermon had been pretty damn difficult. Especially with Heather shooting mean glares toward her all during the services.
Stella had never been an emotional person. In every situation she grabbed the bull by the horns, looked him right in the eye, and he backed down. But there she sat on the church potty, tears streaming down her face, a damn hole in her panty hose with a bubble of skin poking out and sticking to the other leg.
She stood up, removed the hose, and tossed them into the trash can. As much as she wanted to strangle Heather with them, it wouldn’t be fitting for the preacher’s wife to do such a thing. She wrapped toilet paper around her hand and dabbed away the tears. Ruined panty hose, everyone talking about her, worry over Jed’s contract and her business—damn Heather’s jealous soul!
The first time she eased open the door she could still hear the buzz of conversation in the choir room next door, so she repaired her makeup and waited. The second time all was quiet, so she started back through the sanctuary. She took her place behind Charlotte and Boone and hoped that her best friend didn’t see the sparks dancing around when Stella shook hands with Jed.
“We are going to a fish fry tonight and your dad is coming to it so you can talk to him. I couldn’t catch Piper, but doesn’t she usually take the boys up to McDonald’s in Sherman after church for dinner? Think you could get in touch with her and tell her to bring the boys to the park at six o’clock?” Charlotte asked.
The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop Page 5