His own gaze swept the packed restaurant behind her and then came back to her.

From the very first day that they had met, the one thing that had never touched them was awkwardness.

Now it thickened the air and brought the crowded restaurant into sharp and loud focus around them.

“Ashi!” someone called, and he watched as she snuffed out every last flicker of recognition from her eyes.

“Do you have a reservation, sir?” she asked again.

“Hi,” he said, more lost than he’d ever been in his life.

Before she could respond, a woman dressed in a tunic and pants made from the same fabric as Ashna’s sari hurried up to her and whispered something in her ear.

Ashna’s already frozen face went utterly blank, a placid, deathlike mask falling over her beloved, alive features. If Rico didn’t know her as well as he did, he wouldn’t have noticed, but he knew what the woman had said had cut her off at her knees and that she was struggling to stay standing.

Even though she didn’t sway or stumble, just stood there rooted, he wanted to reach out and steady her. He wanted to ask her what had happened, but he didn’t know how to ask this stranger who looked exactly like his girl.

“Take care of this gentleman, please,” she said to the woman with the kind of authority he had never heard in her voice, then without any more acknowledgment than that, she walked into the restaurant and disappeared through a door, leaving it swinging in her wake.

“Have you been helped, sir?” the woman said. “Are you all right?”

He shook his head. “I’m fine. Thanks.” And he walked out of the restaurant, not knowing what had just happened but needing to get out of there.

Chapter Twenty-One

All Ashna wanted was to get out of here. But of course, there was no peace to be had even in her own home. Shobi was always waiting, breathing down Ashna’s neck to have her “bonding conversations” and rehash all the reasons why she had chosen not to be a mother to her.

“You okay?” Rico let himself into the green room. The other last person she wanted to see right now.

After her family left, Ashna had needed a minute to herself, so she’d found her way to the green room. A few of the families were still in the lounge with the cast and crew making their way through the substantial amounts of wine and cheese.

“I’m absolutely fine.” And if you say anything about hiding, I’ll punch you.

His eyes studied her in the mirror. Something about him seemed different since he’d left to see his friend Zee off.

“It was nice meeting your family.” She couldn’t tell if he was being polite or jibing her. “I’m a fan of Yash’s work.” Polite, then.