“You promise you won’t hold secrets like that again?” Mina said in Punjabi.

“Fine, fine. Changa, yaar.”

“Good,” Mina said. “Now all you have to do is ask my man for forgiveness.”

“Excuse me?”

Mina grinned, and it was the first smile Raj had seen from her in a long time. “I don’t want you to be at odds with Hem. As soon as I can arrange it, we’ll get together so you can apologize to him directly.” She held up a hand to call the waitress and asked for two menus.

“You’re just being mean now,” Raj said.

“Yup,” Mina replied without hesitation. “Just because I forgive you doesn’t mean I don’t expect you to grovel.”

“Okay, I’ll grovel and even buy you dinner. Just let me know when.”

“Deal.”

“Deal,” Raj said, and just like that, her world felt right again.

The waitress came over, handed them menus, and placed Raj’s glass of wine on the table.

“Thank you, darling,” Raj said. She smiled up at the waitress. The poor woman was going to get a huge tip

“Uh, sure. I’ll give you a moment,” she said.

“No need.” Raj honed in on the curry section. “I’ll have the green curry with chicken. And whatever your scale is for heat? I want twice as spicy, please.”

“Same,” Mina added and handed over her menu.

“Let’s talk about you now,” Raj said when they were alone again. “I feel like I’ve done my part in oversharing. Tell me how things are. Do you like the new job? I know leaving your mother’s old firm was hard on you.”

“Not as hard as I thought it would be,” Mina said. “It was no longer my mother’s firm, and now that I’m working at a functioning practice, it’s . . . amazing. It’s a whole different environment.”

Raj had met Mina years ago at a women’s leadership symposium, and it had been clear from the start that her friend had something to prove. Her uncles had taken over the law firm that Mina’s mother started before her untimely death, and Mina was determined to take it back. Thankfully, with Hem in her life, now she was focused on herself instead of revenge.

Raj swirled the wine in her glass. “I know your father took the job as SVP of Legal over at Bharat. Does he like it?”

“I mean, he started this week, but so far he’s thriving. I haven’t seen him this jazzed in forever. It’s nice. I feel like we’ve gotten closer since we no longer work for my uncles.”

“Being assigned the Bharat case was the best thing that could’ve ever happened to you.”

“Without a doubt.”

Raj looked down at her nails and started to pick at her cuticle. “Do you work with the other Singhs, too? With Ajay?”