“I wish Patricia didn’t own the only salon in town.”

“She’s a horrible person. Worse than him in a lot of ways. You know her dad paid off the principal for that whole homecoming queen thing, right?”

“I always thought that was urban legend.”

“Nope. I hooked up with the principal’s son a couple months ago and he confirmed that Big Daddy LeDoux was the source of his father’s new bass boat. Remember, we always wondered how he’d managed to swing that on his school salary.”

“I wonder who should have won.”

Halcyon raised one eyebrow.

“You? Oh no! I’m surprised you didn’t dig up Big Daddy LeDoux and beat the crap out of him.”

“It crossed my mind. I settled for setting cow crap on fire on his grave instead. I did it on Father’s Day and waited until I saw Patricia coming through the cemetery with flowers. She stomped it out and totally ruined a new pair of heels.”

“How come you never tell me these things?”

“Because you don’t approve of some of my more colorful behavior, and I don’t want you stressing about what I’m up to. You’ve had enough on your plate dealing with your mother.”

“I would have approved of Patricia stomping cow poop in new shoes.”

“Then I’ll keep you in the loop next time.”

Halcyon frowned and leaned over her sink to look out the window. “Good God. What are those two doing together? And coming up my walkway? Hell has officially frozen over.”

“Who?”

“Adelaide Blanchard and Dottie Prejean.”

Chapter Seven

Marina stared at her sister. “Dottie and Adelaide are together?”

The doorbell rang and Halcyon shook her head. “Nothing good can come of this.”

“Probably not, but I’m dying to know what they want.”

Halcyon pursed her lips. “There is that. Well, let’s find out, shall we? We could make it through the apocalypse with the wine stores I have. A couple of old ladies shouldn’t kill us.”

She walked to the door, threw it open, and stared at the two women on her porch.

“I hope you’re not about to hit me up for one of your charity things,” Halcyon said.

“Please,” Adelaide said. “There’s not a charity in the world that would send me to your doorstep.”

“We need to talk to Marina,” Dottie interrupted. “It’s important. Is she here?”

“The plot thickens,” Halcyon said as she stood back and waved them inside.

Adelaide practically stomped into the kitchen, caught sight of the bottle of wine, and dumped a good portion into a pink glass container at the end of the counter.

Halcyon looked at her with all the frustration that a mother has when looking at a belligerent teen girl. “That’s a vase, not a cup. I would tell you to get out more among real people so you could learn normal social graces, but I’m afraid to since you might decide to come here.”

Adelaide tossed back a big gulp of the wine and waved her hand in dismissal. “Tastes the same regardless. I once drank whiskey out of a rubber boot.”