Shobi smiled. In that way that one smiled when one was trying to hide hurt. She knew Ashna called her by her name behind her back. She’d overheard her speaking to her cousins. It didn’t matter. Shobi liked being called Shobi. Truly, she did.

“I was wondering. Would you like me to help with the restaurant tomorrow? Mina was saying she has something to take care of.” Sure, the restaurant had made her uncomfortable. Memories of a hated ex-spouse would traumatize anyone, but she’d go back in there for Ashna.

“Oh, that’s okay, I can call Nisha. She’ll help, or she’ll find someone to help. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“I’m trying to help you, beta.” There was an edge to her voice but only because being locked out so definitively was exhausting.

Ashna flinched. She put her spoon down and stared at it, as though her anger at her mother would be more productive when directed at benign cutlery.

“Why don’t you say what you’re thinking?” Shobi said, unable to hold it in anymore.

Ashna looked at her, words dancing on her lips, in her eyes.

Just when Shobi gave up on a response, Ashna spoke. “The question is, why? Why is helping me something you’ve suddenly taken up as your latest cause?”

Her causes had always been Ashna’s nemeses; Shobi had sensed this long ago. But after her run-in with Ashna the day she’d arrived, that sense had solidified into realization.

“You’re my daughter, Ashna. You may not see it, but helping you is something that has factored into all my decisions.”

Ashna laughed, and there was almost a mean-spiritedness to it. Of all the things Ashna had said, that angry laugh hurt the most. Then Ashna turned it into a cough as though even hurting Shobi wasn’t worth the trouble. “I don’t think we define ‘help’ the same way. But thanks for ‘factoring me in’ when you could.”

This was the problem with motherhood, the part Shoban didn’t understand—why did it have to be an all-or-nothing game? Weren’t mothers human? “Okay, I deserved that. So maybe I wasn’t any help at all as a mother when you were growing up, but I’m trying to help now. Why are you so adamant about not letting me?”

Ashi went to the sink, filled two glasses with water, put one in front of Shobi, and drank hers down with such desperate gulps that Shobi feared she’d choke. “You want to sell my livelihood, but you want me to believe you’re trying to help. Tell me how this works?”

“Okay, I’ll try to explain.” She took a sip of water. “But are you sure you’re ready to hear this?”

Anger tightened Ashna’s mouth. “Go ahead. I’ll channel your strength.”