“Guess that’s where you got it, then.” Charlotte smiled.
“I got it in the back room,” Agnes said as she shoveled a forkful into her mouth.
Piper put the note back in her purse and headed for her workstation. Agnes could be secretive about her snitch and the food, but they all knew that she’d figured out a way to get into Stella’s house and leave it there. She probably had bought it at Clawdy’s, but she wasn’t fooling Piper one bit.
CHAPTER NINE
Stella turned the air conditioner thermostat down a few degrees to cool the shop and got ready for a long day. Every slot in her appointment book was filled, which meant she’d hear about what everyone was wearing to the Fourth of July festivities that night, who was coming with whom, who’d never be seen with whom, and who was cheating on whom after the festivities were over.
When the customers had worn that out, they’d talk about the barbecue ball and what kind of dresses they were thinking about or had already bought. To Stella’s way of thinking, it was a big girls’ prom and Heather was the high school principal who’d keep the kids all in line. Agnes was the rebel who’d bring vodka for the punch bowl, and when the ball was over then the gossips could all settle down until the fall, when the Blue Ribbon Jalapeño Society Jubilee would fire up.
“Hey, I figured we’d be in for a busy day, so I ran up to Walmart and picked up some lunch meat, bread, and staples so we wouldn’t starve. I got those barbecue chips that you like and a gallon of sweet tea,” Charlotte yelled as she put food away in the back room. “Oh, and I picked up a dozen doughnuts at that little shop for breakfast. You better get one of the maple-iced ones in a hurry. I think they’re Agnes’s favorite kind, too.”
A movement on the sidewalk outside caught Stella’s eye and she hopped out of the chair and made a beeline for the back room. Piper and Agnes were arriving at the same time for the third day in a row and there were probably only three maple doughnuts in the box.
“Give me two of those doughnuts,” she told Charlotte.
“One for you and one for Agnes?”
“Both for me. I’m eating one and hiding one in my station drawer.”
The phone rang as Stella was stashing one of her doughnuts.
“Good mornin’, Yellow Rose Beauty Shop,” she said.
“Stella, is Aunt Agnes down there again this morning?” Cathy asked.
“Yes. She and Piper are coming in the door right now,” Stella answered.
“I’m just checking on her. She usually eats breakfast here and she’s been spending a lot of time at your shop and . . .”
“She’s fine, Cathy.”
“You sure?”
“I’m going to grow up and be just like her. She entertains us, believe me. Do I owe you something for letting us have her?” Stella dropped her voice to keep Agnes from hearing.
“Oh, no, but if I owe you anything, just send the check or we can take it out in trade.” Cathy laughed. “She’s happy as a piglet in a fresh wallow right now with all this prayer meeting stuff going on. It’s put a brand-new spring in her step.”
“Sorry, ma’am, we’re all booked solid today. This is the day of the Fourth of July festivities at the football field so I don’t have a spare minute, but I could call you if I have a cancellation,” Stella said.
“I understand. I’ll call back later.” Cathy laughed.
“Y’all all goin’ to the football field tonight?” Agnes asked.
Charlotte and Stella nodded.
“There’s doughnuts and sandwich makings in the back room,” Piper said.
“I’ll take time for a doughnut if there’s a maple one or a chocolate one but then I’ve got some preliminary work to do before we go to the fireworks show tonight.”
“Agnes, you aren’t making fudge, are you?” Stella asked.
“Not this year. Violet’s on to me, and besides, that was last year’s excitement. I can’t expect to wring anything more out of that trick. But I heard that she was coming and she’s walking with a cane. I told that old bitch she’d wear out before I did. If I wind up in jail, y’all bring me a chocolate cake.” Agnes grinned.
“No shotguns, either,” Charlotte yelled.
“Well, hell, y’all ain’t no more fun than the girls at Clawdy’s.”
Nancy had barely settled into the chair for Ruby to blow-dry and style her hair when Agnes pushed the door open. The noise level went from a low buzz to dead silence and every woman in the place—those under the hair dryers, the lady getting her nails done, and the four around the table waiting for their turns—looked from Agnes to Violet, who was waiting for her turn to have her hair done. Heather looked up from the table she shared with Violet and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.
“Good mornin’, everyone. Y’all gettin’ beautified for the fireworks show tonight?” Agnes pulled up the extra chair beside Kayla’s fingernail station and slumped down, kicked off her flip-flops, and rolled up the legs of her overalls. “I want toenails and fingernails both done today.”
“I thought you did your business down at the Yellow Rose,” Heather said.
“They don’t do toenails. I did get my eyebrows waxed last week. They look damn fine, don’t they? Yours are getting pretty wild, Violet. Old women have ugly eyebrows and toenails, so they need to take care of them,” Agnes said.
“Never you mind about my toenails or my eyebrows. If you didn’t wear those god-awful rubber flip-flops all the time, you wouldn’t have to worry about yours, either. Bert Flynn would roll over in his grave to see the way you go out in public,” Violet snapped.
Nancy held her breath. No one, not even Jesus, would say something about Bert to Agnes. Everyone in town knew that in her eyes Bert had a perfect diamond-studded halo and pure white wings that glowed in the dark.
Kayla broke the silence. “Miz Agnes, you go on and get in the pedicure chair and I’ll run some water in the tub for you to soak your feet in. The remote for a chair massage is right there in the pocket.”
With the agility of a twenty-year-old, Agnes crawled up into the chair and stuck her feet in the tub. Kayla started the warm water and added a handful of vanilla-scented bath salts.
The whole shop waited in pregnant silence. There wasn’t room in Agnes’s overalls for her famous shotgun, but there was plenty for a pistol, and Agnes had proven in the past that jail didn’t scare her one bit.
“So have you bought your tickets to the barbecue ball?” Heather asked Agnes.
“You mean we got to pay to go to a glorified barn dance?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kayla answered. “Tickets are twenty dollars each and any member of the Angels keeps a supply ready. You need to bring your dress in so we can match your polish to it, Miz Agnes. If I don’t have your color, I’ll have to order it. I’ve got pink, blue, and yellow on hand, though.”
“Holy shit, Kayla! Pink is all right but blue would look like someone was about to die, and yellow, my God, would look like dead chicken hide got stuck on a woman’s fingernails. You better get in some bright red for me. It’ll go with my overalls.”
“Miz Agnes, you ain’t goin’ to really wear overalls, are you?” Kayla asked.
“Yes, I am. And Violet, Bert visits me at night and he says that he likes my overalls and flip-flops. He says that he thinks they are damn sexy. I keep askin’ him if I can load up my shotgun and shoot you but he says not until he gives me a sign. Soon as he does I’m going to give you a twenty-minute head start just to give you a fightin’ chance. But remember, I can run faster in flip-flops and overalls than you can in a girdle and high heels, especially now since you done wore out your knee.”
Violet puffed up like a bullfrog. “Bull crap. Bert was glad to die just so he could be rid of you. And my knee is getting a replacement on Monday. In a few weeks it’ll be like new and then I could beat you in any footrace you want to set up, yo
u old bat.”
“Y’all heard that,” Agnes said. “Nancy, you are my witness. I do believe that is my sign. I’ll ask Bert when I get home to be absolutely sure, but there could be fireworks for sure at the football field tonight. Kayla, darlin’, paint my toenails the brightest red you got in the shop.”
Nancy covered her mouth with her hand and did a fake cough to cover the giggles. What was Agnes thinking? She knew that Violet had her hair done twice a week at Ruby’s—on Tuesday and Friday.
“Agnes, I just got one more thing to say. If you do one thing to upset Heather’s barbecue ball, you’ll be able to talk to Bert up close and personal,” Violet said.
“Why, Violet Prescott, are you threatening me? And just when I was about to buy ten of them tickets. Well, Nancy, I’ll just buy them from you since Violet, God love her hateful old soul, is in a pissy mood today.”
“Why would you want that many?” Nancy was elated. Each member of the Angels was supposed to sell at least ten tickets. She’d have hers sold in one fell swoop if Agnes was serious.
“Three for the girls at Clawdy’s, three for the Bless My Bloomers gals, and three for the girls down at the Yellow Rose and one for me. Well, shit, I almost forgot Darla Jean. I can’t forget my pastor, now can I, so go on and give me eleven tickets.” Agnes counted them off on her fingers.
“Why are you buying for all those folks?” Heather asked. “Can’t they buy their own?”
“It’s payment for serving as my bodyguards.”
Nancy’s hair was done, so she got out of the chair so Violet could have it. “You really want eleven tickets, then, Agnes?”
Agnes pulled a wad of money from her pocket, undid the rubber band holding the bills together, and peeled off four fifty-dollar bills and one twenty.
“Miz Agnes, you shouldn’t be carryin’ around that much money,” Kayla said.
“Honey, I’m old but I’m meaner than a junkyard dog. Anyone wants my money they’ll have to fight me for it, and I don’t fight fair. Thank you, Nancy. What’d y’all do with all them haircuttin’ money orders you bought? I heard the men gave them back to you.”
“We are giving them as door prizes at the barbecue ball. Since the beauty shop has the same name as our ball, we thought it would be nice,” Heather said.
Nancy’s laughter broke free when she reached her truck. When sweat began to puddle up around the band of her bra, she remembered to start the engine and turn on the air-conditioning. As she passed Clawdy’s she saw Jack Landry crossing the street to his patrol car. She pulled over to the curb and rolled down the window.
“Hello, Nancy.” He bent at the waist and put his hands on the side of the truck. “You got a pretty dress for that big redneck ball? I heard that Everett is cooking the brisket. That’ll bring in a lot of people in for sure.”
“Thought you might like to know that Violet and Agnes are both at Ruby’s and they’ll be at the football field tonight for the fireworks,” she said.
“I’ll call in a couple of extra duty volunteers for the evening, then, and thanks,” he said.
“Might be a good idea. We don’t need a repeat of last year.” She smiled.
He straightened up and waved. She rolled up the window and went on her way. She glanced over at the Yellow Rose as she drove past. She missed Stella and couldn’t wait until this damned old barbecue ball was over. A son-in-law or a grandbaby couldn’t fill the place in her heart that her daughter held.
CHAPTER TEN
Stella’s father waved at her from the second row of the bleachers. Her mother sat on one side of him and Jed on the other. She stopped in her tracks, her feet glued to the wooden steps leading up into the stands.
“Hey, you almost made me dump nachos all over you,” Charlotte said right behind her. “What’d you stop for, anyway? Oh, now I see. I’ll sit by your mother so you don’t have to. You sit by Jed.”
Stella swallowed hard. “I’ll sit by Mama. It’s okay. It won’t kill either of us and we’ll have to face off with each other someday.”
“Someday is not today,” Charlotte said. “Get going. Our nachos are getting soggy.”
“What’s the holdup?” Boone asked from behind Charlotte.
“We’re moving,” Charlotte said.
Stella could feel every eye in the stands on her as she smiled and waved back to her father. Were they all taking bets as to whether she’d sit by her mother or the preacher? If she sat by Nancy, what wild stories would be setting the phone lines on fire later that night? If she sat beside Jed, would the gossips have a name to go on the church sign?
Charlotte was already making a beeline to sit beside Nancy, so Everett better clean up the shotgun and book the church. But who would do the services, since Jed was the preacher and it probably wasn’t legal for him to perform the ceremony for his own wedding? And could the higher powers in the church make them stand up before the pulpit and get married again, or would the courthouse license be legal enough for them? Poor man! He had no idea what trouble he’d brewed up when he decided to keep company with Everett.
“Hi, Daddy. Mama. Jed.” She nodded at each person.
“Work hard today?” Everett asked.
“Busiest day of the year. Friday’s always tough, but add that to the fireworks festival and it’s nonstop,” she answered.
“Hello, Stella.” Jed smiled.
She sat down beside him. “Hi. I understand you and my daddy have been doing some serious fishin’ this week.”
He shifted a knee over to touch hers. “We have been havin’ a really good time. You should go with us sometime.”
“Maybe I will,” she said.
Nancy leaned around Everett and touched Stella on the shoulder. “There’s enough fish in my freezer for a big fryin’. Why don’t you invite your friends and come on over Sunday evening for supper? I’ll make banana nut bread for one of the desserts.”
“And your famous cream-puff cake?” Charlotte asked.
“That would be good here in this hot weather,” Nancy said.
“Boone is bringing his catch of the week and Jed is helping me fry up the fish, so we’ll have a big crowd,” Everett said.
“How much banana bread are you making?” Stella asked.
“Enough that you can take a couple of loaves home with you.” Nancy smiled.
“Can’t beat a deal like that. I’ll get Piper to bring a pot of baked beans and I’ll make that ranch potato salad that Daddy likes,” Stella said.
That should give the gossipmongers enough to talk about for the whole weekend. She felt right smug until Rhett Monroe sat down on the other side of her and the whispers started humming like busy bees all around her.
Rhett was dressed in faded jeans, cowboy boots, and a red T-shirt and he smelled like soap and shaving lotion with just a faint bit of beer tossed in the mix. On the other side, Jed wore faded jeans, cowboy boots, and a bright blue T-shirt and he smelled like soap and Stetson with just a faint hint of nachos. The whole scenario was more than a little heady, especially when she overheard someone a couple of seats up from her wondering which one was the answer to the Thursday night prayers.
“Where’s Piper? I thought you’d all three be together,” Rhett said.
“She’s on her way,” Stella answered. “Scoot down a little way and we’ll save three seats for her and the boys.”
“There she is.” Jed’s hand brushed across Stella’s arm when he pointed. “She and the guys are over there beside the hot-dog stand.”
“There’s lots of room over on this side,” Rhett said. “You’re asking her to your dad’s fish fry on Sunday, Stella?”
Stella leaned forward and answered, “Of course we are. We’d be in the doghouse if we didn’t let her make baked beans.”
“And those two boys love to come to our place. We’ll make a freezer of home-churned ice cream and I�
��ll rig up the donkey wagon so they can have a ride,” Everett said.
“So it’s a date then, set in stone for Sunday night. The Yellow Rose ladies will be at the fish fry along with Boone, Rhett, and Luke and Tanner?” Jed said.
“And you and me and Nancy,” Everett said loudly.
It was her father’s grin that melted Stella’s heart. She might not be ready to forgive her mother for putting her on that damn prayer list, but she couldn’t stay mad at her forever. And her friends were right when they said that Everett missed her.
It was shaping up to be a grand night for the gossip vine. The poor phone company might need to be contacted in advance to be aware that there was a possibility the lines would burn plumb up. Stella had agreed to go to her mother’s house for Sunday supper. She was between Rhett and Jed, but Piper would have to sit on the other side of Rhett and that would really throw a wrench into the guessing game. Now they’d all wonder which woman Rhett was really interested in. By morning, the news might be that they’d had a threesome, or maybe an orgy, underneath the bleachers after the fireworks show was over.
Rhett patted the place right beside him when Piper arrived. “Saved you the best seat in the house.”
“Look, there’s Daddy,” Luke said and waved.
Stella reached around Rhett’s back, tapped Piper on the shoulder, and leaned back to tell her about the fish fry on Sunday.
“Look, Luke, he’s coming up here. Maybe he’ll sit beside us. Y’all scoot down. Daddy is waving at us. I wonder where Rita and Grandma and Grandpa are,” Tanner said.
The plot thickened further. Much more and Stella wouldn’t be a character in the story line. When Gene plopped down beside Luke and ruffled both boys’ hair, the static behind Stella buzzed with excitement.
“Hey, y’all make some room for me.” Agnes squirmed in between Nancy and Charlotte. “I didn’t miss anything, did I?”
That shoved Stella and Jed right up next to each other, shoulders, hips, and legs all touching. Heat came near to setting her on fire right there in the football stands.
The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop Page 13
