The punch landed squarely where Ashna had aimed it and Shobi’s patience snapped. “You’re being deliberately hurtful again,” she said. “You aren’t a teenager anymore. This anger isn’t going to get you anywhere. It’s not healthy. You’re thirty. It’s not—”

“I am the least angry person I know.” The irony of her hiss did not escape her. “I have a business to run. I’d love to help you, but I just can’t.” She forced herself to regain her calm.

At least Shobi had gotten her age right this time. Shoban Gaikwad Raje had the fabulous distinction of having asked her child “So, what grade are you in?” on multiple occasions.

“Getting away from that place is exactly what you need. I can’t believe your father saddled you with—”

“Curried Dreams is my life,” she hissed again, because the only thing being upbeat would get her was a bath gone cold.

“That’s my point exactly. You need to find a life outside Curried Dreams!” said the woman who lectured all and sundry endlessly about how a woman’s work should be just as important to her as her family. “It’s time for you to break the chains that have been tying you up for years. Reset your priorities.”

Dear God, not chains! Chains were Shobi’s favorite metaphor. “Women in Chains” was the general theme of all her lectures. Once Shobi started on this topic, she’d never stop.

Ashna straightened up. Curried Dreams wasn’t what was tying her up in chains. Shobi was, and she always had with her promises of love that she kept just out of reach. Always. For Ashna’s whole life the woman had wielded those chains with ruthlessness.

Finally, in this moment, it hit Ashna why. It had been so Ashna would be here, waiting, when Shobi was finally ready to fix that neglected part of her life. Because Shobi had always set her priorities exactly the way she wanted them.

“You’re right,” Ashna said. “I do need to break the chains. Which is exactly why I’m not coming to India.”

“That makes no sense, Ashna. You’re stuck, don’t you see? You’ve been doing the same thing for—”

“I have a new job, Mom.”

No! Why on earth had she said that? Ashna wanted to wring Trisha’s and China’s combined necks for shoving stupid ideas in her head.

“You’re moving on from Curried Dreams?” The almost gleeful hope in Shobi’s voice strummed every one of Ashna’s overstretched nerves.