Last Chance Beauty Queen by Hope Ramsay Read Free Book Online

Chance these days?”
    “We were just discussing the marital state of William Ellis when you came in.” Thelma gave Caroline a furtive look out of the corner of her eye. “He needs a wife, preferably an Episcopalian, and that’s a fact.”
    Well, that wasn’t exactly new news in Last Chance. The girls had been trying to find a mate for Bill Ellis for at least a year. “Is he still being lured by Jenny Carpenter’s pies?” Caroline asked.
    “He is,” Lessie said, “and everyone is in an uproar because he’s judging the pie contest again this year, and we all reckon Jenny’s peach pie is going to win again. Really, we need to find some unbiased judges for that contest.”
    “We do,” the ladies chorused.
    “And we need to find a good woman for Bill.”
    “Sounds like he needs a woman who knows her way around a rolling pin,” Caroline said.
    “Do not joke about this, Rocky. Besides, you could do a whole lot worse for yourself than Reverend Ellis. After all, Bill is gainfully employed and close to the Lord,” Lessie replied with a little sniff.
    “Reverend Ellis is not for Rocky.”
    This pronouncement, coming from Miriam Randall, brought all activity at the Cut ’n Curl to a screeching halt. Lessie got halfway out of her chair. Momma turned around at her station and stared at the little old lady. Thelma ducked down out of the hair dryer, and Millie closed
Destiny
with her finger inside the paperback to mark her place.
    “No?” Ruby asked. “Then who?”
    Miriam blinked in Caroline’s direction from behind her 1950s-style rhinestone trifocals. “I’m not sure, but not Reverend Ellis. He belongs to someone else.”
    Caroline’s stomach clutched. Every one in town thought Miriam Randall had a pipeline to the Lord that allowed her to make perfect matches by helping to identify a person’s soulmate. Caroline didn’t need a soulmate right at the moment, so she hoped Miz Miriam would keep her thoughts to herself.
    Apparently Miz Miriam had other plans. Because she gave Caroline one of her sweet little ol’ lady grins and said, “Oh, Rocky, you should be looking for a salt of the earth.”
    “Salt of the earth?” Caroline’s voice cracked.
    “Honey, I’ve known for some time that you’re destinedto be with a man who is… well, it’s really hard to explain.” Miriam paused a moment, her brown eyes twinkling. “See, your soulmate is going to be someone practical and down to earth and, well, just a regular sort of guy. And I’ve been getting the feeling that he’s about to make an appearance in your life. Any day now.”
    “Really?” Her hands went clammy, and white spots invaded her field of vision. Finding a regular sort of guy sounded okay, so long as it happened after the election. Before the election was no good. And whoever he was, he had to be ready to drop everything and move to Washington. That was nonnegotiable.
    “Well, isn’t that a surprise,” Momma said with a little frown folding her brow. “Oh, well, not as surprising as that time you predicted that Tulane would marry a minister’s daughter. But Caroline with just a regular Joe is very reassuring, Miriam, thank you so much. I’ve been worried lately that she’d end up with one of those lawyers or politicians up in Columbia, you know?”
    “Well,” Miriam said in her chipper voice, “I can’t say what his occupation might be, but it stands to reason that a man like that would probably work with his hands.” The old lady cocked her head sideways and blinked her deep brown eyes at Caroline as if she were studying tea leaves in the bottom of a cup.
    “Uh, thanks, Miz Miriam,” Caroline said, “but I’m not actually looking for a soulmate, or even a steady boyfriend, right at the moment. I’m really trying to help Senator Warren get reelected. And then I’m hoping that he’ll give me a job in his DC office. So all in all, I could wait to find true love. I could wait a long time.”
    “Yes, but can your true love