“Fine. Work it out any way you want. You can get your commission and we’ll give the rest to the charity. I don’t give a shit, Rod. Just make it happen.”

“Are you feeling all right, Rico? I know the surgeries and retirement suck. But listen, we’re flush with offers. If you’re open to reality TV, we have a hundred options. I can get you on Big Brother.”

Rico would rather stab himself with an ice pick, in the knee even. “I know I just threw you, so I’m going to let the Big Brother comment slide. But if you bring me any reality shows other than this, you’re fired.”

“Right. I’m terrified. But okay, no reality shows except something on”—he cleared his throat—“Food Network.”

“Nope, not something on Food Network. Cooking with the Stars.”

“Got it. Anything else?”

“Yup. I need to be partnered with a particular chef.”

Chapter Six

Ashna rummaged through her jewelry drawer. The only way she could get through meeting the celebrity she would be partnered with was to wear the ruby earrings her grandmother had given her when she moved to America. Aji had worn them when she met Ashna’s grandfather for the first time. They were supposed to help with new beginnings. And, well, today was the day for them. It had been three weeks since she had called China and said yes. A wasted call, because China had assumed that’s what Ashna would do and sent out the press release already.

The earrings were sitting next to a mother-of-pearl box in the far corner of the drawer. With a shaking finger, Ashna traced the gold inlaid roses on the box. Inside it, Shobi’s engagement ring sat ensconced in folds of white satin. Ashna had dug the ring out of the garbage after Baba had dropped it there after the last fight Ashna had witnessed between her parents.

“Everything okay up there?” Trisha and Nisha bellowed from downstairs in one voice. The Raje girls bellowing, a historical day indeed.

“Almost done,” Ashna bellowed back, because why not? She hooked the rubies into her earlobes.

Nisha was the keeper of the family’s fashion profile. Which meant none of them had developed the ability to go out into the world on important days without Nisha picking out their clothes, whether it be for weddings or job interviews. Except the ruby-red prom dress that hung at the very back of Ashna’s closet. Nisha had no hand in buying that one. Her family didn’t even know she had gone to prom, or that her date had bought her that dress.