She touched his arm. “Aw, you told Anil how awesome I am? Thank you. And you wouldn’t be the torture at HNS. You, I like. Boardrooms and people who say, ‘Let’s circle back to that,’ or, ‘We need to leverage our position,’ is what I want to avoid.”

He laughed. “So, still friends?”

“You can’t get rid of me that easy. Of course—still friends.” She pulled him in for a quick hug, then squeezed his arm. “Now, back to work, friend.”

Now that their Hallmark moment was behind them, they worked together to finish setting up the party. It was nice to have someone to help her since Asha didn’t come over as much anymore. Rohan let her lead with minimal snarking—obeying her on where to move the tables and chairs, which throw cushions to put where, and how to set up the dining table. After lighting some cream scented candles, it was time to start on the food. First, she set the cider with the spices on the stove to simmer, then she pulled out the paneer and started threading the marinated cheese cubes on skewers.

“Wow, you really did cook. No takeout at all today?”

“The biryani is takeout. DoorDash will deliver in one hour.”

“Well, this stuff looks impressive. Let me help.”

He rolled up his sleeves and helped her thread the paneer along with some cubed vegetables onto the sticks. Soon, the skewers were roasting gently in the oven, adding a creamy, spicy aroma to the apple-cider-and-cardamom scent that was already permeating the room. The table looked perfect—the pink and black plates popped against her wood table. The golden sunflowers were the perfect contrast to her white lilies. This party was going to be amazing.

Smiling smugly to herself, she took the momos out of the fridge. She figured re-steaming them for a few minutes was the best way to heat them, so she might as well load them up in the steamer now so they would be ready to go when the guests arrived.

“Who made that? Actually, what is that?” Rohan asked, looking over her shoulder.

“Momos. I’ll have you know I made these completely myself. From scratch. Including the wrapper dough.”

“I’m impressed, Kam. They look a little…” He frowned. “Are they supposed to look like used Kleenexes?”

“Shush, you. They’re perfect. Wait till you taste one.” She grabbed a pair of chopsticks to feed Rohan a momo. Even though they were fridge-cold, she knew he’d be impressed.

But when she tried to lift the momo from the top of the stack, the whole container, and the three dozen momos in it, came with it. She dropped the chopsticks and the container fell back to the counter.

“No problem.” She smiled. “A little stuck.”