Her escape was easy—she told Dad that Asha needed her for a personal talk. Dad patted Kamila’s shoulder. “You’re so good to your friends. Give her my best. I’ll put the rest of the pasta away for your lunch tomorrow. And I’ll take Darcy for her walk.”

Kamila called an Uber since she’d had that prosecco. As she was waiting for the car outside, Rohan came out onto the front porch. “How are you feeling about this, Kam?”

She shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, hearing the hurt in her voice.

He reached for her hand, and she immediately pulled it away. She didn’t want to touch him. Not now.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I hated keeping this from you. But your father was insistent. He wanted to surprise you. But I can see you’re upset. You didn’t deserve being blindsided like this. I owe you a huge apology.”

She snorted. “Yeah, I’m upset. But you don’t owe me anything. We’re just friends, right? Or…business associates?” A realization hit her. “You didn’t tell me this because you were afraid I would talk Dad out of it. You wanted his HNS shares, didn’t you?”

Rohan stepped closer to her. “Kam, no! You can’t possibly think that about me!”

She shook her head. “I don’t know what to think. I thought I knew you. And I thought you knew me. But if you really knew me”—her voice cracked—“you’d have known that this is the last thing I’d want. I’ve told you I can’t work at HNS. I’ve told you how much I love Emerald. But apparently you weren’t listening.”

“Kam, no, I really—”

“I don’t know why I’m surprised. This isn’t a friendship. I’m just…entertainment for you.”

He didn’t say anything. That was all the answer Kamila needed. She saw the car pull up.

“You know what? Fuck you, Rohan Nasser. Friends don’t keep secrets this big. Don’t tell Dad I’m pissed off. At least he gets to be happy about this.”

She got into the car and didn’t turn back.

*  *  *

The second Asha opened the door after Kamila knocked, Potato ran out. Thankfully, Asha was holding the other end of his leash.

“Potato!” Kamila said, reaching for the puppy. “What are you doing here?” She looked up at Asha. “Oh my god, is Potato okay? Is the bad news about him?”

“No, he’s fine. We’re trying to get the puppies used to homes before they’re adopted. And I thought you might need him tonight, so I went and grabbed him.”

Kamila hugged Potato close as she walked in and kicked off her shoes. Asha was right, as always. She did need Potato tonight.