The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop by Carolyn Brown

marriage minister.”
    Trixie Matthews dashed across the street and picked up a loaf of Nancy’s banana bread. “Agnes said y’all was plannin’ a big barbecue ball out in one of Miz Violet’s barns. Sounds like fun. I haven’t had an excuse to wear a pretty formal since my senior prom. I just love those new fancy dresses with the halter straps and all that bling all over them. Here’s five dollars. Y’all keep the change since it’s going to a good cause. Even if no one gets married, we’ll love having a barn dance.”
    “It’s a ball, not a barn dance,” Heather snapped.
    “Whatever.” Trixie grinned.
    As soon as Trixie was gone, Heather rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and sighed so heavy that she snorted. “Damn that Agnes. She’s going to be trouble. As God is my witness, she will be a nightmare. My sweet little aunt Violet warned me that she might try to sabotage my ministry.”
    “What on earth could Agnes do? It’s your party at your aunt’s house,” Nancy asked.
    Heather giggled and waved her fingernail around excitedly. “You are so right. It’s going to be a grand debut, my first big event in Cadillac. I’m so glad that you put Stella on the prayer list and helped me to realize my true service is in creating happy marriages.”
    A feeling akin to icy water being trickled down Nancy’s back chilled her to the bone. All she’d wanted was a few prayers and God’s help to get her a son-in-law so she could have a grandbaby. She really hadn’t realized she’d fire the first shot for another war in Cadillac when she marched into the Angels’ meeting four days before. But the battle had started and there was nothing left to do but see it to the end. She’d just have to trust Agnes to help her throw a wrench in the barbecue ball.

    If it had been for anything other than to get her married off, Stella would have stopped by the bake sale and bought a loaf of her mother’s banana bread to nibble on as she cleaned the shop. But there was no way she’d help finance that endeavor, not in a million years.
    She, Charlotte, and Piper rotated turns cleaning the shop. It wasn’t set in stone. If Piper had something she had to do with her boys, then Stella or Charlotte traded with her. If Charlotte had to go to a bridal fair, then someone swapped with her. It all worked out in the end and they managed to keep from having to hire extra help.
    She’d just finished folding the last load of towels when the front door opened and her father, Everett, waltzed in with two cold bottles of beer, dripping with water where he’d just taken them out of the cooler.
    “Thought you might need something to cool you off,” Everett said.
    “Have a seat, and thank you, Daddy! I just finished getting this place in order and a beer is just what I need. What are you out doing today?”
    “Tryin’ to stay away from my gun safe so I’m not tempted to shoot a bunch of angels. Don’t know why they’d call them meddling women angels.” Everett sat down in one of the chairs around the table and twisted the top off the beer bottle before he handed it to her.
    Stella pulled out a chair and settled in across from him. She took several long gulps before she came up for air. “Tastes better than I thought it would. You can’t shoot them, Daddy. That would be too easy. Agnes and I will take care of it, I promise.”
    “I just get so damned mad at the way your mama does all the work for everything. Used to be if Violet Prescott wanted some glory she called on your mama to be part of a committee of some damn kind, and now it’s that new woman, Heather. I hear she’s Violet’s niece and is just as bossy as that old bitch.”
    “Have you told Mama how you feel?”
    “Honey, we wore this fight threadbare when you was just a little girl. We’d fight and it’d be hell to pay around the house for a few days and then we’d get over it until Violet wanted your mother to work her ass off on another project that Violet would