Shit, being woken from sleep meant she hadn’t checked caller ID. Ashna pulled the phone away from her ear and checked the time. Three A.M. Had Shobi really ambushed her in the middle of the night, knowing she might answer the phone without checking?

“What’s up, Mom?” She got off the couch and stretched her stiff back, half expecting to feel the sandy cliff from her dream beneath her bare feet.

After her call with China, Ashna had obsessively mixed and sampled tea blends, labeling them things like Apocalypse Averted and Nowhere to Run. Then she’d settled into the couch to think with a cup that she’d finally gotten right (Hidden Strength). Her social media and text messages were filled with The Video and her brain had shuttled wildly between knowing that China was being her dramatic self and believing that her best friend’s job hung in the balance. With so much spinning in her head, it was a miracle she had fallen asleep.

On the phone Shobi sounded almost surprised that her ambush had worked. “I’m just checking in to see if you’d given any thought to our conversation?”

Okay, so at least Shobi hadn’t watched the clip. Thank heavens for tiny mercies.

Was it still called a conversation if only one person speaks? “Our last conversation ended with you telling me what I do is worthless. What exactly did you want me to give thought to at three A.M.?” Ashna made her way up the stairs to her room.

“Ashna, please let’s not argue,” Shobi said in her deliberately cool negotiator’s tone, which made Ashna dread the thought of backtracking.

Please let’s not argue was Shobi code for Let’s do this my way.

Thanks to her grotesque luck, right now doing it Shobi’s way was the only way to not end up in front of a camera with Rico again.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about us,” Shobi said in that same determinedly calm tone. “I understand that you aren’t excited about my Padma Shri. I even understand why coming here and being part of the awards ceremony would make you uncomfortable, but having you resort to lying about a new job, that just broke my heart.”

Ashna stopped at the top of the stairs and squeezed the banister. Shobi didn’t believe that Food Network would employ her daughter. That shouldn’t have surprised her, and Ashna was livid at herself for letting it.

Shobi let out a long-suffering breath when Ashna didn’t respond. “I know you’re angry with me, but do you have any idea what the Padma Shri is? Can’t you see, I want you—and all women—to believe that you can achieve whatever you want.”

“Except saving my restaurant, or being on television?”