The Red-Hot Chili Cook-Off by Carolyn Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

fifty-five-gallon can of gossip. Sometimes it’s hard to think of you, Beulah, Agnes, and even Violet all being the same generation, Josie.”
    â€œWell, we are, honey. They’re all a couple of years older than me but we come out of the same era. We ain’t had nothing juicy in town lately. Folks is needin’ something to talk about and you just delivered it up to them on a platter. Only thing you can do now is what you know is right and ignore the gossip,” Josie said.
    Carlene tried to steer the conversation away from her problems. “Thank you, Josie. Did you get that corset done?”
    Josie nodded. “Seems a shame to me to do all that work when it’s going to spend most of its time on the floor or the back of a chair.”
    â€œOh, but that new bride will be pretty for her husband for a little while, won’t she?” Carlene barely got the words out before she buried her face in her hands and her shoulders began to shake.
    Josie threw an arm around her. “Let it all out and get it over with. He ain’t worth a single tear but you’ve got to get past this stage and to the one where you don’t give a damn. A divorce is like a death in the family and there’s steps you got to go through. You don’t get to skip one, neither. It is what it is, darlin’.”
    â€œHow long does the cryin’ one take?” Carlene asked between racking sobs.
    Josie patted her on the shoulder and let her sob. “Never know just how long any of them will take but one day it’ll all be in the past and you won’t even give a damn no more.”
    The bell above the door said that customers had arrived. They should shut the shop for the day, hang a black wreath on the door, and turn out all the lights. But Fannin women didn’t run and hide from problems; they faced them square on. That’s what her mama always said and Lenny wasn’t taking a bit of her power.
    Gigi led the way into the shop and instantly went to Carlene’s side. She dropped down on her knees in front of her daughter and wrapped her arms around her. “Do you want me to take care of him, honey?”
    â€œI don’t want him dead. I want him to suffer,” Carlene wailed.
    â€œI could just shoot him in the knees,” Gigi said.
    Josie headed toward the kitchen. “I’ll bring coffee for everyone.”
    Tansy patted her on the shoulder. “What can we do to help, darlin’?”
    The hiccups had set in with the sniffles. “I don’t even have a bed to sleep in tonight.”
    Patrice handed her a box of tissues. “You can stay with me.”
    â€œDon’t you worry about a thing.” Tansy pulled a cell phone from her oversized purse. “Alex, go out in the yard and bring in our strongest gardeners. Take them up to that bedroom at the end of the hallway, the pink one on the left beside the linen closet. Have them load up every bit of that furniture, including the drapes and rugs, on their pickup trucks and bring it all down here to Bless My Bloomers. Lenny Joe, the sorry bastard, has done cheated on Carlene and she’s moving into one of the bedrooms upstairs.”
    Gigi hugged her daughter one more time before she stood up. “Where are your personal things?”
    â€œUpstairs and it ain’t pretty,” Patrice said.
    â€œIt will be when we are done. Y’all go right on about your business here. We’re going to set things in order. Tonight you’ll have a bedroom and everything will be organized. Have you called a lawyer yet?”
    â€œSweet Jesus,” Sugar gasped. “This all just happened this morning. When the dust settles, they might reconcile. Don’t call a lawyer until we’ve had time to think about it and pray that God will put his hands on both of you.”
    Carlene shook her head. “I’m not calling a lawyer right now, Aunt Sugar. And you can pray the wings off the angels but