Page 24 of Half Baked

“False pretenses?”

“Introducing myself as a cop to get people to talk. Like I said, I should be fine.”

Should be fine.I stared at him in disbelief. Noah Langley followed the rules. I found it hard to believe he’d buck them to help me. Then again, he’d put his life on the line multiple times to protect me. Maybe he was worried it was dangerous and didn’t want me to do it alone.

I glanced at the espresso machine while I sorted out my feelings. “Would you like an Americano?”

“Yeah,” he said, pulling out his wallet.

I waved a hand at him and grabbed the largest cup we had. “You know Petra says your money’s no good here.” At least it hadn’t been before Christmas. As far as I knew, he hadn’t been in for coffee since.

He pulled out a five-dollar bill and stuck it in the tip jar.

I made his drink as he stood watching me from the other side of the counter.

“Does your arm hurt?” I asked when I stopped grinding the coffee beans.

“Not too much. Nothing ibuprofen can’t handle.” He grimaced. “My mom came to town last night.”

That caught my attention. His mother had never been to Cockamamie. “Your mom’s here?”

He nodded. “She pulled up in front of my house as I got home last night. I texted her from the ER that I was okay, but she wanted to see for herself.”

“I can’t say I blame her,” I said. “We’re not even really together, and I had to see you immediately. She’s been your mother for thirty-seven years.”

“True…”

“So why are you here to help me instead of at home with your mother?”

He reached up and scrubbed the back of his neck. “That’s a complicated answer.”

“You don’t want to see her?”

“I do, but she’s a hoverer. Especially after I got shot last year.”

“Again, I can’t blame her there either, but I can also see your side. I’m not a fan of hovering.”

A smile lit up his eyes. “I know.”

“How long is she planning on staying in town?”

He laughed. “Your guess is as good as mine. She says she wants to get to know the town I’ve moved to, but I suspect there’s an underlying purpose.”

“Like what?” I asked as I put a lid on his cup and handed it to him.

“After this shooting, I suspect she’s here to full-court press me into changing professions and coming back home.”

Home being Memphis, not Cockamamie, not that I could blame him for his word choice. He’d been born and raised in Memphis. He’d only been here five months.

I felt a stab of pain. While he was adamant he wasn’t moving back, something had changed when he was home for the holidays. Who was to say his mother wouldn’t be successful in her mission to get him to move home?

He shifted his weight and his gaze seemed to settle at the base of my throat where the heart necklace he’d given me for Christmas hung before he lifted his eyes to mine. “How long do you have before you get off?”

I glanced down at my watch. “Technically, now, but I’m waiting for Trista to show up for her shift. She’s often a few minutes late.”

“And Petra puts up with that?”

“Good help is hard to find these days.”

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