“Hello, what’s going on today?” Piper said and then giggled. “Is that right? I can’t wait until you get home to see it. And you’re going back today? What fun. Guess what? I found out that Bible school is at our church next week, so you guys might want to tell Grandma that you’ll be staying with the sitter so you can go.”
“But Grandma already knows that, Mama,” Tanner said. “She wants us to tell you that she’s going to be a teacher at Preacher Jed’s church, so she’s goin’ with us, too. And guess what, we’re helpin’ Grandpa in the garden and he said we could bring home a whole sack full of vegetables.”
“And you’re going to eat them?” She laughed again.
“We’ll eat the potatoes and the corn. We told Grandpa not to put them old nasty squashes in the sack,” Luke yelled.
“You don’t have to holler. She can hear us,” Tanner told him.
“Are you guys on speakerphone?” Piper laid her phone down on the countertop and pushed a button so Stella and Charlotte could hear.
“Yes, we can both talk that way,” Luke said.
“Tell me again what you made in Bible school,” she said.
“Well, we stirred some water into a white powder and made a glob of it on this waxy paper. Then we took a pencil and wrote a Bible verse in it. When it got hard, we chipped off the knots and painted it,” Tanner explained.
“And then we glued a thing on the back so you can hang it on your wall,” Luke said.
“What’s your verse?” Charlotte asked.
“Well, I wanted to write ‘God is good, beer is great, and people are crazy,’ but my teacher said that’s a song, not a verse, so I just wrote ‘The Lord is my shepherd,’ and Luke wrote . . .” Tanner said, and there was a long pause.
“I took it off speakerphone on this end and I’m here,” Gene said. “Have you come to your senses? Are we going to be a family again?”
“I never lost my senses, Gene, and no, we are not.” Piper reached to pick up the phone.
Charlotte slapped at her hand and shook her head.
“You’ve got five days to make up your mind,” he said.
“My mind is made up. I’ve moved on and you have, too, Gene. This is your second move. You left me for Rita and you’ve left her for Ramona. I hope you find happiness, but it’s not going to be with me. Good-bye,” Piper said.
“Don’t hang up! Ramona is just a bed partner until we are back together, just like Rhett is to you. You boys go make your beds or you won’t be doing a bit of fishing this afternoon. You’re not talking to your mother again today. They won’t be talking to you the rest of the week except at bedtime. I’ve been too damned lenient on them.”
The phone went dead.
“I’m not sleeping with Rhett.” Piper’s voice cracked.
Stella took the brush from Piper’s hand. “You won’t mind if I take over, will you, Katy? I’m really good with long, thick hair. We all work with Alma Grace and your hair reminds me so much of hers.”
“That’s fine. I’m sure you’ll do a fine job,” Katy whispered.
Piper ducked her head and headed for the back room, where she melted into a chair and laid her forehead on her arms on the table. She cried until her ribs ached and her lungs burned, but it wouldn’t stop.
“It’s not fair for him to take out his anger toward me on the boys.” The words came out a couple at a time between sobs.
Charlotte sat down beside her and patted her shoulder. “Shhh. He’ll go to work pretty soon and Lorene will take care of them. He won’t be around except in the evenings. They’ll be home in five days.”
“It breaks my heart,” Piper said. “I wish he’d marry that Ramona and get on with his life.”
“If she’s smart, she’ll run the other way,” Charlotte said.
“Who’ll run which way and who’s smart?” Nancy came through the back entrance and set a pan of brownies on the table. “Are you talking about Gene and his new woman?”
Charlotte told the story while Piper dried her eyes and fixed her makeup using a small hand mirror.
Piper’s chin quivered but she took a deep breath and said, “I wish he’d not only get married but that he’d move right on out of this state.” She pushed the chair back and returned to the front part of the shop. “Is there room in Kentucky for another worthless ex-husband, Katy?”
“There could be. Round ’em all up and put them in one place so they can’t sweet-talk their way into breaking another woman’s heart.”
Charlotte cut two brownies from the pan, put them on a plate, and whispered, “Maybe brownies will help everyone. Thanks for bringing them, Nancy.”
“Hi, Mama.” Stella smiled. “Any rain on the horizon?”
“Hell, no, there ain’t no rain in sight all week. Gardens would wither up and die if folks didn’t water. Cadillac has always produced a patch of hot jalapeños up by Clawdy’s and Cathy will see to it that there is a good crop this year, but it’s takin’ lots of water. I hear she’s making candied ones from an old recipe she found in her mama’s things to enter in the fair. Who is this you are fixin’ up? I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Nancy, Stella’s mama.”
“Right pleased to meet you, ma’am. I’m Katy. Alma Grace recommended this shop and I have to agree with her; these ladies do a fine job. My hair is so thick that most hairdressers just want to thin it out and cut it off,” Katy said.
“Brownies? Nancy brought them.” Charlotte slid the plate close enough that Katy could reach it.
Katy reached for one. “That is so sweet.”
Nancy sat down in Stella’s swivel chair and stared at Katy. “Fresh out of the oven just before I left.”
“So what brings you into town this mornin’, Mama?” Stella asked.
“I’ve got to make a run up to Sherman for sugar. Peaches are coming off the two trees in the orchard so fast that I can’t keep up with them,” she said.
“Puttin’ them in the freezer or makin’ peach pie filling?” Stella asked.
“Freezer today,” Nancy answered.
“Delicious brownie. I didn’t take time for breakfast, so it’s really hitting the spot. I miss my granny’s peach cobbler. She uses a little bit of cinnamon and for special times like weddin’s or birthdays she makes homemade ice cream to go on top,” Katy said. “Thank you so much, Stella. I’ve got just enough time to get to work. Piper, it might be awkward for me to come back here, but I did enjoy meeting all of you.”
Piper slid into the chair next to Nancy. “I want to apologize for not finishing my job. I hope you don’t hold that against us. I don’t usually get emotional, but ex-husbands can be trying.” Piper frowned and asked, “Why would it be awkward for you to come back?”
Katy waved her hand in dismissal. “Alma Grace did me the biggest favor of my life in sending me here. It’s not that I don’t want to come back but that I shouldn’t. I wasn’t totally honest with you. My grandmother called me Katy since my middle name is Catherine, but when I came out here from Kentucky I decided to make a clean change and I’ve gone by my first name, Ramona, ever since.” She took a deep breath and her chin quivered slightly. “Y’all and that phone call sure opened my eyes, so thank you, and Piper, believe me when I tell you that you don’t want Gene back in your life. I thought you were a witch from hell who’d cheated on him since the month after you got married and kicked him out when he wouldn’t let you go on a singles cruise with your two friends here. I’ll thank Alma Grace on my way out of town.” Ramona/Katy put a bill on the counter and swept out of the shop without looking back.
Nancy’s sudden intake of breath was the only sound in the beauty shop. “Well, don’t the world go round.”
Stella was speechless for all of thirty seconds and then she whispered, “I bet Gene is in a bitchy mood the rest of this week. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t bring the boys home early.”
“That would be a blessing,” Nancy said.
“Now he’ll really be grouchy with the boys,” Piper groaned.
“Don’t you worry one bit about it. Karma is a bitch and his mama ain’t goin’ to let him get too mean. Those are her grandkids and believe me, if I had boys like that, I’d fight a forest fire with nothing but spit to protect them. Now pass me one of them brownies and who are you sleeping with, Stella?” Nancy said.
Stella opened her mouth to spit out his name and then shook her finger at her mother. “You are sneaky this morning.”
Piper squeezed the bridge of her nose between her finger and thumb. “I love you and I want to know who your boyfriend is, but right now I wish I could have what Ramona got—a fresh start.”
“Please don’t leave Cadillac,” Charlotte whispered.
“I couldn’t leave my friends, and the boys have roots here, but it don’t keep me from wishin’ I could do something different.”
“You could sell your house and buy another one. Leave his ghost there and move on for real,” Stella said.
Piper dropped her hand. “Now that sounds like something we should talk about.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
The phone was right beside her on the end table and Piper was stretched out in the recliner under the air conditioner vent. Charlotte and Stella shared the sofa, one on each end with their legs stretched out across the middle. Piper’s favorite movie, Something to Talk About, was in the DVD player.
“I can so relate to this movie, only Gene isn’t as nice as Eddie Bichon. By the end of the movie I’m hoping that he and Grace get back together, but I never want to look at Gene again. If I poisoned him like she did Eddie in the movie, I’d add enough that he’d be in the morgue, not the damned emergency room,” Piper said.
“Hey, anybody in here want a cinnamon roll right out of the oven?” Nancy yelled as she made her way to the living room. She set the pan on the coffee table. “Your daddy is fishin’ and hey, I like this movie. I am Georgia King, the mother. I’ll get some paper towels to use for napkins from the kitchen.”
Stella reached for a warm roll. “Daddy never did flirt with another woman, did he?”
“He’s still alive, isn’t he?” Nancy ripped two paper towels from the roll and handed one to Stella. “Gossip has it that Gene’s girlfriend came into the shop with a gun and threatened Piper today. I was there for part of it so I know it’s not true, but it does make for a juicy story.”
“That ought to be real good for business,” Piper groaned.
“Gossip also says that you are thinkin’ about a fresh start and you are moving to Harlan County, Kentucky.” Nancy put the rest of the towels on the coffee table and then pulled a wooden rocking chair closer to the end of the sofa.
Piper ripped off two towels and reached for a cinnamon roll. “It would be nice if everyone could get the story right if they were going to tell it. We’re going to send every two-timin’ husband to Harlan County, not the poor old wives who get their hearts broken.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Maybe they could have a season on their sorry asses, kind of like deer season. Two weeks out of every summer women could buy a license to hunt them down,” Nancy said.
Piper smiled. “I’d have to take shootin’ lessons.”
“I could teach you,” Nancy said. “I’m a fair shot with a pistol and I can take the eyes of a snake out at fifty yards with a good rifle. Which brings me to a proposition I got for you, Piper. I got to thinking about you sellin’ your house and startin’ fresh. I went home and talked to Everett about it first and he agreed that would be a good thing for you to do.”
Piper picked up her second sweet roll. “It would be nice, but the market is down right now, especially in a small town like Cadillac. We only bought it five years ago, so there’s not much equity. I doubt I’d get enough to put a down payment on another place.”
Nancy kicked off her sandals and drew one knee up in the chair. “I don’t want your answer tonight. I want you to sleep on it first. As you know, my mama refused to move in with us when she got to where she really shouldn’t be livin’ by herself. Wouldn’t be a burden, she said. So we put a trailer on the farm about a quarter of a mile back behind our house. Fenced it in so she could have her dog and the cows wouldn’t eat her roses. She said she couldn’t live in a place where there wasn’t roses, so Everett planted ten bushes in front of her trailer.”
“I remember that story.” Piper smiled.
“What if you was to move in that trailer and let us watch the boys for you? It would give Everett something to do. I don’t know what I’ll do with him once he gets tired of fishin’. Wouldn’t cost you a dime for the trailer or the babysitting, unless you want to charge me for the boys keepin’ Everett. You could rent your house out here in town. We got some new teachers comin’ in that’s already lookin’ around for houses to rent so it shouldn’t be hard to do. Of course, you’d have to pay your own utilities, but there is a good clean well that provides free water,” Nancy said.
Tears streamed down Piper’s cheeks and dripped onto her shirt.
“Now, don’t bawl like a baby. You can tell me to butt out and mind my own business,” Nancy said. “I just figured since I don’t have no grandbabies that me and Everett could kind of adopt yours. And since Gene can pop into Lorene’s anytime and be hateful to the boys, then maybe it would be best if they only saw him on his weekends.”
Piper popped the leg rest of the chair down and crossed the room in three long strides, knelt in front of Nancy, and put her head on her lap. “That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever offered me. You are an angel straight from heaven. Do I have to wait until morning to give you my answer?”
Nancy patted her on the shoulder. “I just figured that it would give me and Everett more time to hope you’d say yes. Don’t know why we didn’t think of it sooner. He really loves Luke and Tanner.”
“Yes, yes, yes.” Piper hugged Nancy tightly. “I can’t ever thank you enough.”
Nancy patted her on the head. “Havin’ someone out there to take care of the trailer so it don’t get vandalized or fall down in a heap will be nice. In a few years you might want to sell your house and move back to town, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
Charlotte wiped away tears with a fresh paper towel and threw the roll at Stella, who peeled several off and passed it on to Piper.
“Now that’s settled, we’ll start packing tomorrow night, right?” Charlotte asked.
“Before you change your mind,” Stella said.
“I’ll get Boone and Rhett to move the heavy stuff on Thursday evening. We can pack in two nights and the boys will have a big surprise when they get home. Now they can have a puppy, right, Nancy?” Charlotte asked.
“They can have dogs, cats, ducks, or rabbits and chickens . . . it’s the country,” she answered.
“My head is spinning.” Piper finally laughed. “They’ll be so excited. I’m not telling them or Gene anything about it. He’s already been told he has to bring them to the shop, so he won’t know.”
“I’m supposed to help teach Bible school next week so the first week, me and the boys will be real busy. Everett is already pouting because he says it’s not fair that I get them more than he does right at first,” Nancy said.
“It just gets better and better,” Piper said.
“Okay, we’ve settled Piper’s problem, Nancy. Now help me with mine. I’m getting married in a few months and I’ve got second thoughts about it.” Charlotte spit the words out in a rush.
Nancy clutched her shirt at heart level. “Your mama . . .”
“I know,” Charlotte exclaimed.
Letting go of her shirt, Nancy exhaled loudly. “I feel like my life has come around in a circle right now, Charlotte.”
“Why?” Stella asked.
“It was abo
ut two months until my wedding day. We didn’t have a lot of money but Mama had bought the prettiest white satin and did hand embroidery on the dress she made for me until her fingers were raw. She was scared to death that they would bleed and she’d get a drop of red on that dress. And there I was wondering if I should marry Everett Baxter. I felt so guilty and I imagine you do, too,” Nancy said.
Charlotte’s eyes misted up again as she nodded.
Stella reached for the paper towels. “Lord, help us all. This is sure a cryin’ jag night.”
“Are you prayin’?” Nancy teased.
“I might be at that.” Stella smiled.
“What did you do, Nancy?” Charlotte asked.
“Well, I sure couldn’t talk to my mama, not with that dress almost finished and the fabric for the bridesmaids’ dresses all ready to cut out next. I couldn’t talk to the Fannin sisters, who were barely past the honeymoon stage. And Claudia was in the same boat as Sugar, Tansy, and Gigi. We had a whole bunch of weddings those couple of years just like we’re havin’ right now in Cadillac. Trixie’s mama was my special friend, but she’d run off to join a commune and, honey, we didn’t have cell phones to call people like y’all do. So I went up to Claudia’s mama’s house,” Nancy said.
“That would be Agnes’s sister, right?” Stella asked.
“That’s right. I remember knockin’ on the door and then breaking down into sobs and she took me into a room. It was hot summertime but that room was so cool and so dark. She turned on one little lamp and sat down beside me on an old blue velvet sofa and asked me if my mama had passed.”
Stella slung her feet around and planted them on the floor, propped her hands on her knees, and asked, “Why would she ask that?”
“She said that she’d never seen me cry before and thought it had to be a death to cause it. Well, I told her how I was feeling and I’m going to tell you the same thing and make you do it. It will seem crazy, but it will work,” Nancy said.
“I will do anything,” Charlotte said. “I need some peace.”
“Stella, do you or Piper need to go to the bathroom for anything? It’s going to be locked for the next half hour,” Nancy said.
The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop Page 23
