“Nah, you’re a goddess.” He kissed her again. “But carry on with your ponderings. There’s someone China wants me to meet.” He gave Ashna a hug and left.

They watched him walk away smiling to himself. Well, Ashna watched him. Trisha watched his butt.

“Classy,” Ashna said.

“It’s even better without the jeans.”

“Whoa! TMI, Trisha! The man is like a brother to me!”

“And aren’t we glad I don’t share that problem.” Trisha grinned and poured herself a glass of wine from the well-stocked table. “So about Rico. Why are you looking like someone just stabbed you in the chest?”

Maybe because the man had. Except he’d stabbed her in the back.

“I’m doing nothing of the sort. Just tired.” Ashna took a sip of Trisha’s wine.

“Come on, Ashi, there’s an incredibly hot guy in your kitchen and you’re acting like you’re being tortured. How often does that happen?” She took the glass back. “Well, DJ is often in your kitchen, so it happens a lot. But still.”

“I’m not interested in him.”

“Okay. Although, why aren’t you?” An annoying brow wiggle. “Kidding. Seriously, though, he’s going to help you win. You do want to win, right?”

“Ugh, that’s the problem. I do.” She considered telling Trisha about the Shobi Deal, but she had never been able to talk to anyone about her plentiful parental issues. “But I want to win for my food.”

Trisha looked at her like she had no idea who she was. Ashna knew exactly what she was thinking. Ashna wasn’t like DJ, who was a food whisperer. He had once told Ashna food spoke to him and he just listened. Ashna had pretended to understand.

Her palms went clammy. Food spoke to her too, but it didn’t whisper, it screamed. Shrieks that curdled her blood if she dared to deviate from Baba’s recipes.

Trisha squeezed her arm. “Sweetheart, you’re here because of your food, but in life you have to use all the advantages you’ve been given. It’s ungrateful to kick away good fortune. Isn’t that what we’ve been taught?”

DJ came back and said something to Trisha, and she laughed and pulled out her phone. Until Trisha had met DJ, she’d basically treated the whole world as not worth her time; now she was pulling up an article on arthroscopic gallbladder removal because one of Lilly’s daughters had told DJ that she needed the surgery.

How did people change so much? Across the room Song dropped a kiss on Rico’s cheek and he grinned as though he had not a care in the world. Then again, maybe people didn’t change, maybe you just hoped they did.

Rico caught her watching him being all cozy with Song. Song followed his gaze. Brightening even more, she dragged him over before Ashna could make her escape.