Page 92 of Half Baked

I shook my head, then swallowed. “All of it, I guess.”

“Well, she kept forgetting who I was, and when she showed me the photos, she said they were pictures of Andrea, but it was obviously you.” He grinned. “You were a cute little girl.”

“Obviously,” I teased as I took another bite, then after a moment, I asked, “Did you have time to do any searching?”

His smile faded. “I did, but not as much as I would have liked. Do you want me to tell you about it now, or wait until you’ve finished your dinner?”

“As much as I’m enjoying this time with you, tell me now. I’m tired and I’m really looking forward to going to bed.”

His eyes smoldered. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to concentrate when you say things like that?”

I laughed and took a sip of my wine. “I’m tired. Maybe I just want to go to sleep.”

He turned serious. “Whatever you want to do, Maddie. It’s all about you tonight.”

To my aggravation, tears filled my eyes.

“What did I do wrong?” he asked with a panicked look.

“Nothing. You’re doing everything absolutely right.” I reached across the table and placed my hand on his. “I can’t remember the last time anyone’s taken care of me like this. I’m guess I’m not used to it.”

“Then I’m an asshole for not doing it sooner.”

“No, you’re doing it at your own pace.” I twisted my mouth to the side. “I think all of this means even more after today.” I drew in a breath and sat back in my chair. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to make things weird.”

“You didn’t, Maddie. We promised to be open and honest. I want you to know how much you mean to me, and I’ve done a piss-poor job of it. But I’ll do better.”

I set my fork down and pushed the plate away, eager to get to bed. “I’m done.”

Worry covered his face as he took in the half-empty plate. “Are you sure?”

“You gave me enough to feed two lumberjacks.” I lifted my brow. “But I do remember something was said about brownies.”

“You stay here, and I’ll get them.” He stood, picked up my plate, and took it to the sink. “Did I mention they were made from scratch?”

A grin spread across my face. “I believe you did.”

He grabbed a square glass pan from the counter and put in the center of the table, then refilled my wine glass. The brownies were already cut into squares, and several were missing. I picked up one and took a nibble before I exclaimed, “Oh God. This isreallygood.”

A smug look lit up his eyes. “Told you.”

“Okay, this means you’re in charge of all brownie-making in the future.”

“I can live with that. Especially since your aunt shared her recipe with me.”

I took a sip of my wine. “I’m impressed. She doesn’t share that with just anyone, you know.”

“In the interest of full transparency, she shared it with me because she said that I have, and I quote, ‘a great ass.’”

I cringed even though I was amused. “The Aunt Deidre I knew growing up would be horrified to know she’d said such a thing.”

“Well, it is a great ass,” he teased.

I took another bite of the brownie and tried hard to keep from moaning. Aunt Deidre’s recipe had some secret ingredients that made them especially good, but they were even better tonight because she’d shared her recipe with Noah. She was pretty stingy with it. She may have given it to him because she appreciated his butt, but it still felt like she’d given him her blessing.

I was getting sappy. I needed to focus on something else. Like my mother’s murder. “Tell me what you found.”

“Like I said, not much.” He took a sip of his wine, then helped himself to a brownie. “Lance and Neil were off tonight, so I had to do some amateur sleuthing. Since Aunt Deidre was more like herself than usual, I asked her about your mother’s funeral.”

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