In the weeks before Lauren Astley was killed, the mother of defendant Nathaniel Fujita visited her at the Natick Mall ­boutique where she worked and had an emotional conversation with the girl who was once her son’s sweetheart, according to testimony Thursday.

“It seemed to be a bit of a serious conversation,” said Maeghen Reineke, the manager of Store 344, where Astley worked at the time of her death, in July 2011. “Lauren was a person who was ­really spunky. She had her arms crossed and she was leaning against the wall, and Beth [Fujita] seemed to be speaking to her a little earnestly. She looked a little upset, from what I could see.”