The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop (18 page)

“And celebrate?”

“That, too. I’m so happy, darlin’.”

The song ended and Jed escorted Stella back to her chair with his hand on her lower back. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Thank you for not leaving me to be the only wallflower of the evening,” she said.

“What were y’all talking about out there?” Piper whispered when Jed had rejoined the guys. “Your eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas. Is he the boyfriend?”

“I can honestly tell you that Jed is not my boyfriend.”

“George Jones,” Everett yelled, “is in the building, or maybe I should say his spirit is in the yard. These guys and these young boys are in for an education in real country music. Y’all listen to this now. Mr. George taught a lot of singers like Vince Gill to sing with a broken heart. It takes somebody with a heart to do that.”

Nancy wiped a tear. “I’ll go to my grave mourning for not seeing to it that your daddy at least had a back-row seat at Mr. George’s funeral. He went to the river with his little player the day that they had that funeral at the Grand Ole Opry. He had completely filled up the player with George’s music and didn’t come home until the thing needed recharging.”

“Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes?” played and everyone was respectfully quiet as Everett pulled off his hat and held it over his heart.

“Now let’s get happy,” Everett said, “with a little ‘White Lightning.’ Nancy, get out of that chair and dance with me to make me happy.”

Nancy came out of the chair so fast that Piper only saw a blur and the dancing began on the grass. Stella started clapping and whooping and the rest followed suit and pretty soon the whole area was alive with energy and happiness.

“That’s what I want,” Piper said.

“If I can’t have that, then I don’t want anything,” Stella agreed.

Charlotte nodded. “Don’t ever get mad at your mama again.”

Stella whistled through her teeth and Nancy sashayed around Everett, teasing and flirting like a young girl. Everett’s eyes glittered with love and pride when he brought her back to the chair.

“Okay, folks, we’ll be listenin’ to ‘Good Hearted Woman’ while we finish up this ice cream and work on fryin’ fish,” Everett said when the CD played the last George Jones song.

Jed grinned and headed across the yard again.

“I do believe you are not going to be a wallflower,” Piper said.

“This is the song I sing to my secret wife,” he said as he swung Stella out and then brought her back into his arms. “Only I’m changing the words up a little bit. I’m a good-hearted preacher in love with a good-timin’ gal. Through good times and bad times we’ll pass through this world hand in hand and I love her in spite of her wicked ways she says she has.”

“Oh, you do?” Stella asked. “You want to tell me her initials? The ladies over there are dyin’ to know some new gossip. They’re sick nigh unto death of hearing about that prayer list, the barbecue ball, and Violet’s dementia.”

“Not until she’s ready to tell the world. Then I’ll be glad to give y’all her full name. She’s said something about tellin’ the news at the barbecue ball,” he said breathlessly when the song ended.

The music stopped at the same time Everett picked up the first pan full of fish and dropped it into the bubbling-hot grease.

“I’m sure glad I’m just a little boy,” Luke said with a snarl on his six-year-old face.

“Why’s that, son?” Everett asked.

“Because I don’t want to dance with no sweaty old girl.”

Tanner snarled and shivered. “Me, neither.”

“You’ll get over that one of these days, but right now I’m glad you’re just a little boy, too,” Everett said seriously. “You boys might want to steer clear of this kettle. I don’t want you to get burned, and it pops sometimes.”

“Yes, sir. We’ll go toss the Frisbee some more, but could you hurry that fish up? We’re pretty near starved plumb to death. Mama wouldn’t let us have a taste of them beans she cooked.”

“We sure will. Soon as the fish floats, you can be the first ones to get fed,” Everett said and then yelled, “Nancy, these boys are hungry. You gals want to get the rest of the food brought out to the picnic table so they can chow down on the first batch that comes up?”

Nancy touched Stella on the shoulder. “I don’t think a puppy is going to do the trick for your daddy, darlin’.”

Stella barely got the door open to her house when strong arms picked her up and carried her through the kitchen and out the back door. She laid her head on his chest and whispered, “Where are we going?”

“Away until tomorrow evening. My truck is waiting over on the next block. I packed a suitcase for you. If I did it wrong or forgot a single thing, we’ll buy it at the Walmart,” he said softly.

“I should tell Piper and Charlotte in case they need me,” she said.

“It’s Piper’s turn to clean the shop tomorrow and if they need you, they’ll call. Your phone is in your purse. I want to sleep with you in my arms and wake up tomorrow beside you. This week has lasted for an eternity, and we are celebrating the hiring of Jed Tucker at the Cadillac church,” Jed said. “I made reservations at a cabin on the banks of Lake Murray just west of Durant. We don’t have to check out until Tuesday morning at eight o’clock.”

“We get to play house for almost two days?” she asked.

“We will play house forever in exactly three weeks or we could start on Tuesday morning at eight o’clock. Your choice, darlin’.”

“Is that a second proposal?” she asked.

“Sweetheart, I’ll get down on one knee again any time you want me to. Right under the only red light on Main Street at high noon if you just say the word. I’m not ashamed of loving you.”

“I might make you eat those words.” She sighed.

“Just hand me the salt and pepper and I’ll go to chawin’ with a big grin on my face,” he said. “And remember, I intend to announce it with a microphone at that barbecue ball.”

She snuggled down tighter into his arms. “Not if I get it in my hands first.”

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTEEN

M
ama, Mama, look who’s making pancakes for us,” Luke squealed.

Piper definitely had a case of bedroom hair going on with a tangled rat’s nest at the back of her head, her faded nightshirt barely covered her underpants, and she was busy rubbing sleep from her eyes.

How could it be Tuesday morning already? And why would Stella be at her house that early?

“Pancakes sound wonderful,” she mumbled.

“I’m glad,” Gene said.

Her eyes popped wide-open and would not shut. Her head set up an instant throb and her gut clenched up into a pretzel.

“What are you doing in my house?” she asked.

“Making pancakes,” Tanner said innocently. “He woke us up and helped us pack. We’re goin’ to Grandma’s for two whole weeks.”

Her eyeballs were dry and her brain close to exploding. “Were you going to tell me?”

“Sure, we was going to bring you breakfast in bed,” Tanner said. “But now that you are in here, we can sit down at the table all together, right?”

“A word, Gene?” she said.

“I got nothing to say that my sons can’t hear.” He smiled. “Might I add that you look fetching this morning?”

“No, you might not. And what is all this about?”

Gene was an inch shorter than Piper, had thinning hair that he kept cut short, hazel eyes, and a square jaw. He’d played football in high school but slowly over the years he’d put on a few pounds here and there and now he had a spare tire above his belt.

“Divorce papers say that I should have had them for the July Fourth holiday and then for my two weeks in the summer. I can’t reclaim the time from Friday until now, but they’re mine for the next two weeks from right now until the twentieth of the month. Then we will begin our every-two-week schedule, which means they come with me on July twenty-fifth, so you might want to write this down. I wouldn’t want to surprise you again,” he said with a wicked gleam in his eye. “I should bring them home Sunday at six o’clock on the twentieth, but my folks have plans that Sunday to go away and I have plans for the company picnic so I’ll bring them to you on Saturday evening at six o’clock. I do get them for Thanksgiving this year and you have them for Christmas, but I get them for Christmas Eve until six o’clock that evening. I will be going strictly by the papers from now on, Piper.” He spouted off the words like he was reciting a school lesson that he’d memorized the night before.

She sat there in stunned silence. The company picnic was a family affair. Whom was he taking and why couldn’t he take the boys?

“There’s nothing you can do about it, Piper. Your only option is to let me move back in here and we can be a family again. What do you say, guys? Want us to be a family again?” he said.

Tanner tiptoed across the room and whispered in Piper’s ear, “Is he teasing?”

She hugged Tanner and whispered back, “I don’t know.”

“I see that you’ve turned them against me,” Gene said through gritted teeth.

“You haven’t been around much the past six months. Their trust is a little slim,” she said. “But they do have a little bit left. I don’t and this family idea—it ain’t happenin’.” She chose her words carefully since the boys were in the room.

“Okay, guys, we’ll be spending two weeks at Grandma’s house after we have pancakes,” Gene said.

“Will you be there?” Luke looked from his mother to his father.

Gene flipped two pancakes onto a plate and set them on the bar. “In the evenings I will be. I have to work in the daytime.”

“And Rita?” Tanner asked.

“Rita and I are not together anymore, so I’m living with Grandma and Grandpa until your mama comes to her senses. But I do have a new friend I want you to meet. She has a couple of little boys a little younger than you are and she goes to church with your grandma,” Gene said gruffly.

“What’s her little boys’ names?” Tanner asked.

“Her name is Ramona and her boys are Tommy and Freddy.”

“How much younger?” Luke asked.

“Tommy is three and Freddy is two,” Gene answered.

Tanner rolled his eyes at his mother. “They’re babies. They can’t play ball with us.”

Luke popped his forehead with his palm. “I bet they still wear diapers.”

“Are you using them for bait or babysitters?” Piper asked Gene.

He pointed an egg turner at her. “You did the same thing.”

“Not hardly,” she said. “Hey, guys, I’m going to make sure you’ve got everything you need to spend two weeks at Grandma’s. Y’all enjoy your pancakes. I’m not hungry this morning,” she said and then said out the side of her mouth for her ex’s ears only, “I’m having the locks changed tomorrow. You can drop the boys off at the shop when you bring them home, and from now on that’s where you will pick them up and drop them on your weekends.”

“I paid for this house,” he started.

“No, we split the payment every month and I bought you out in the divorce settlement between us. It’s mine. Hey, guys, do you want to take your gloves and baseballs so your dad can play catch with you?”

Luke popped his head again. “We forgot that. And our Frisbees, too, Mama.”

“I’ll pack up a duffel bag of your favorite things,” she said around the lump in her throat.

“Stuffies?” Tanner asked.

She smiled at him. “Oh, yes. I wouldn’t want you to go to bed without your Hoppy Bunny.”

Tears were flowing down her cheeks when she reached her bedroom. She picked up her phone from the nightstand and dialed Charlotte’s number first.

Boone left a sweet note on Charlotte’s pillow saying that he’d just spent five minutes watching a princess sleep and that he was going to work and he’d see her that evening for dinner and a movie in Sherman.

She hummed the song that they’d danced to on Sunday while she applied her makeup. It had been a glorious weekend and she couldn’t wait to talk about it with Piper and Stella.

“I’m going to miss Agnes popping in and out of the shop telling us the latest gossip,” she muttered and smiled. “I wonder what kind of devilment she’s been up to at the hospital this weekend.”

Her phone rang and she picked it up with one hand and kept brushing on blush with the other. “Hello, Piper. Are you already at the shop? I don’t have an appointment for another hour so I didn’t get in a hurry. Want me to pick up food for the week on my way?”

Nothing but sobs came through the line.

Charlotte held it out from her ear and there was Piper’s picture.

“Piper, what’s wrong?”

“Brussels sprouts.” The words were barely audible through the tears.

“I’m on my way,” Charlotte said. She dropped the brush, grabbed her work shoes and purse, and ran barefoot to her car.

She couldn’t remember when any one of them had used the code words they’d invented when they were seven years old. It was the one thing they all hated worse than spiders and mice, and the only time it was to leave their lips was if they were in big trouble. Then the other two were to drop everything, even if it got them grounded or sent to prison forever and ever, and go to help the friend in need.

“Please, God, don’t let one of those boys be hurt or dead,” Charlotte prayed out loud as she ran the red light in town and ignored three stop signs.

Stella missed seeing Agnes out on her porch as she jogged past her house. She’d had a glorious weekend at the lake with Jed and they’d talked about what they were going to change when they remodeled the parsonage. She didn’t have a problem with any of his ideas as long as they didn’t give Charlotte and Piper keys. She checked her watch as she slowed to a jog a block from her house. She’d have to rush to get a quick shower and her makeup on if she was going to beat her friends to the shop. If she was late, they’d ask a million questions and it was getting harder and harder to keep quiet about Jed.

Her phone rang as she hit the first step on her porch. She fished it out of the hip pocket of her jean shorts and breathlessly said, “Hello, Piper. Are you already at the shop?”

“Brussels sprouts,” a sobbing voice said.

Stella’s blood ran cold. They’d teased about that code word for years but things had to be really bad for Piper to use it.

“I’m on my way. Do I need to bring a gun or dynamite?” she said as she sorted through her key ring for the right one to start her car.

“No, just you,” Piper said between sobs.

The light was green but if it had been red, Stella would have shot through it like a cannonball. She slid through two stop signs and used up a hundred miles of rubber on her tires getting stopped at the curb in front of Piper’s house. Charlotte pulled in right behind her and they had a footrace to the porch.

“You know anything?” Stella panted as she opened the door.

“Just that it’s an emergency,” Charlotte answered.

“What in the hell are you two doing here?” Gene stood in the middle of the living room floor. “Did she call you?”

Stella glared at him. “We might ask you the same thing.”

Dammit! She should have brought both dynamite and guns or at least a fish fillet knife.

“I’m here to get my boys for their summer visit. I asked you if she called you.” Gene’s tone dripped with ice.

Tanner ran out from the kitchen with Luke on his heels. “Guess what? Daddy woke us up this morning and we’re going to Grandma’s for two whole weeks and guess what else? We had pancakes for breakfast.”

“And Mama is packing our baseball gloves because we forgot so she’s in our room,” Luke said.

Charlotte bent down and kissed each boy on the forehead. “Y’all have a wonderful time at your grandparents’ ranch. But don’t forget to call your mama. She’s going to miss you.”

“I’ll miss her, too.” Luke’s eyes went all teary.

“Now look what you’ve done,” Gene said.

Tanner hit Luke playfully on the arm. “Grandma will let us call every night. She says that we don’t have to ask, that if we want to talk to Mama just go in there and hit the number one key on her kitchen phone. And I bet she’ll come get us for ice cream any time we get to wishin’ for her.”

“These two weeks you will need to ask me before you make calls to your mother. This is my two weeks and I’m the boss and she’s not going to see you at all during my time,” Gene said.

Stella shot him a look that was meant to turn him into a big fat lazy slug, but he just smiled sarcastically. She stooped down and kissed Luke on the forehead. “You ask Grandma while your daddy is at work if you can call your mama. Now I’m going to help her find all the stuff that you will need. We sure don’t want you to forget your favorite pillow, do we?”

Luke did another head-popping gesture. “Forgot that, too. Daddy, you aren’t much good at packin’, are you?”

Stella left Gene to explain that to Luke and headed back down the hallway. She peeked into Piper’s room but it was empty, so she knocked gently on the twins’ door, cracked it open, and peeked inside. Piper was holding a stuffed bunny in one hand and a stuffed giraffe in the other.

Charlotte pushed past her, pulled Stella into the room, and closed the door. She led Piper to the bed and gave her a gentle push and then she and Stella flanked her in a three-way hug.

“It’s all right. Lorene has them all day anyway and they’re used to the place and two weeks will go fast. The only way I can see out of it is to shoot the bastard, and then you’d end up in jail and never get to see the boys,” Charlotte said.