Page 78 of Half Baked

I shook my head. “Mrs. Lebowski said he only came over when I was sleeping at a friend’s house or with my aunt and uncle.”

She tutted, then reached over for a Diet Coke can on the table. “Andrea always was a mix of contradictions.”

“How so?” I asked.

“You know, like sleeping with a drug dealer while portraying the squeaky-clean English teacher-slash-single mother. I think that’s why she volunteered so much at that one soup kitchen. To atone for her sins.”

My head felt fuzzy, but I forced myself to ask, “Gordy was a drug dealer?”

“Not hardcore,” she said, then took a drink from the can. “The first time we met him, he offered us ecstasy. Everyone took it back then, so we didn’t think a thing about it. But if I heard about either of my two boys taking drugs like that from a stranger now…” She shuddered. “We were stupid. Especially Andrea. She had a kid at home. You would have been an orphan if she’d died from an OD.”

I cringed, and she looked horrified.

“Oh, God, Maddie. I’m so sorry! What a thoughtless thing to say.”

“It’s okay,” I said, part of my heart turning cold. “It’s true.”

“Look,” Annemarie said, leaning forward, resting the can on her knee. “Your mother wasn’t perfect, but who is? She just went through a wild phase for a little while, got it out of her system, and returned to her mild-mannered teacher persona.”

I nodded, then added, “Yeah.”

“It’s not like she was addicted or anything. She never did anything like coke or meth. Just pot and the occasional Molly. But shenevertook drugs around you. Not even pot. She only drank, and not very much at that. She said she needed to be able to drive if anything happened to you.”

My throat felt tight, and I tried to swallow. I knew I should respond, but I couldn’t process what to say.

Noah rested his hand over mine. “You said that Andrea met Gordy in a bar in Chattanooga. Was he from there?”

“Yeah, that’s part of the reason she started going every weekend. To see him. But he got arrested shortly after she stopped going to Chattanooga.”

“She stopped because I wandered out of the house, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, and then Gordy was arrested a couple of weeks later. He called your mom to bail him out of jail, but his bond was pretty high, and she would have had to put up her house. It killed her to refuse—she loved him—but she said she couldn’t risk your home, Maddie.”

“Was Gordy pissed?” Noah asked.

“Oh, God, was he! But he went to prison, and I never heard anything more about him. Then again, I was seeing Mel, and Andrea and I stopped hanging out as much. She didn’t mention Gordy after his arrest, and I didn’t ask. We mostly lost touch after I quit teaching and became a mom.” She made a face. “The pay is crap, and it didn’t make sense to pay most of it to daycare.”

“How did Andrea afford it?” Noah asked.

Annemarie’s face pinched. “That’s an excellent question. I know Deidre watched Maddie a few days a week when she was little, but the rest of the time she was in daycare.” She shook her head. “To be honest, I’m not sure how she afforded it. Even with Deidre’s help.”

Had Tony or his parents been paying child support after all?

“Did she have any other boyfriends?” Noah asked.

A frown creased her forehead. “Why are you both so interested in her boyfriends?”

“I got an email from a man claiming to be her ex-boyfriend,” I lied. “He wanted some photos of her, but I didn’t believe she had any boyfriends, which got me wondering about my mom’s life.” I made a face. “And so here we are.”

Annemarie hesitated. “The only real boyfriend she had was Gordy. Before and after him, there were other men, but they never meant anything to her. Most were one-night stands.”

I nodded again.

“So I wouldn’t be giving that man any photos unless his name is Gordy Smith,” she continued. “He’s the only one she ever cared about.”

“Gordy Smith?” Noah asked. “That’s his name?”

“That’s what Andrea said, although I confess, it sounded like a fake name to me.”

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