Page 47 of Half Baked

“I’m so thrilled to meet you, Mrs. Langley.”

She chuckled and gave me a loose hug. “None of that Mrs. Langley nonsense. Call me Laura.”

That had to be a good sign. “Okay, Laura.”

She slid back into the seat, and I climbed in on the opposite side. Noah sat beside me, and he grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed it.

His mother’s gaze was intense as she seemed to take me in. “I hear you’re the person responsible for Officer Erickson calling me to say Noah had been shot.”

“Mom!” Noah protested, sitting upright.

“It’s okay,” I said reassuringly to him, then turned back to face her. “You’re his mother. You had a right to know.” I grimaced. “Then again, we thought it was more serious at the time, so I apologize if we scared you. It wasn’t until I practically forced myself into his ER room that I found out it was a minor injury, and I didn’t think about having someone let you know he was okay. I didn’t even know they’d actually called you.”

She nodded, her face looking more relaxed. “I appreciate that you were making sure I was in the loop. Noah would never have let me know otherwise. Or at least until a few years from now, when I noticed the scars on his arm. So thank you.” She nodded, a soft smile easing the tension in her body even more.

“You’re welcome,” I said, relief pouring through me. “I’m sure Noah didn’t want to worry you. I know he feels terribly for everything you and your family went through after he was shot last year.”

Crap. Wrong thing to say. The color drained from her face, and the tension was immediately back. “Yes.” She sipped her water before setting the glass on the table, her hand shaking slightly. “It was extremely traumatic. We didn’t think he was going to make it.”

“I’m fine, Mom,” Noah said with a sigh. “Thenandnow. Have you looked at the menu? Everything is good here.”

Laura ignored him. “Tell me about yourself, Maddie. Noah tells me you’re an Uber driver. That must be…different.” I was sure she was trying to hide her disapproval, but she didn’t quite make it.

“Mom,” Noah interjected, sounding angry. “I told you she was a barista.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “I’m actually both. And yes, it’s different. I meet a lot of interesting people.”

“Including that man you brought to his murder,” she said disapprovingly.

Noah’s face reddened. “Mom!”

“Which is also true,” I said, giving Noah a pointed look before turning back to his mother. “I’m sure I’ll be written up in the Uber monthly newsletter at some point since it has to be pretty rare. I don’t foresee it ever happening again.”

Her jaw dropped. “They have a monthly newsletter?”

I shifted in my seat. “Uh…no. That was my lame attempt at a joke.” This wasnotgoing well. Could I walk out and come back in and start over?

“Matilda makes a great bangers and mash,” Noah said in a rush. “Her mother was from Manchester, England, so she makes a lot of English food.”

His mother ignored him. “Maddie, I hear your mother was murdered when you were a girl. That’s quite tragic.”

I swallowed, taken aback that she’d brought it up so bluntly. “Yes, it was. I was sixteen when it happened.”

“Here in Cockamamie?”

“Yes.”

“And it happened in her classroom? I heard she was a teacher.”

I shot a glance at Noah, who looked just as confused as I felt.

“And then you were caught up in a young woman’s murder last December,” she continued. “A woman who was in a self-defense class you were leading?”

Noah stared at his mother like she’d grown three heads.

“Yes.” I wasn’t sure what she was working toward, but I doubted it was anything good. My mouth felt dry, and only two water glasses sat on the table.

“Your mother, your Uber passenger, then a woman in a self-defense class?” She twisted her lips to one side. “Death seems to follow you around.”

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