Bina, Natasha, and Deepak turn to the entrance of the cocktail-hour space, where Mira’s husband is at least three beers deep and showing off his disco moves to a small audience of family friends that includes Kavita, who is uploading a video of Chand’s dancing to Instagram. Chand and Mira will be on many Instagram accounts tonight. They both dominate dance floors at Atlanta wedding receptions and alternate from classic Bollywood moves to a middle-aged version of swing dancing to even the tango.

“Hey, can we join in this group hug?” Zack asks as he and Suhani approach them. They’re both holding glasses of champagne and, as always, are dressed better than the bride and groom. Zack’s in a custom-fitted light gray suit that’s perfect for the balmy weather and Suhani is in a bright-pink-and-gold Anita Dongre lehenga. She’s paired the shimmery skirt and top with a gold choker and bulbous gold earrings. Bina notices a cluster of women gazing at Suhani with equal parts awe and approval. Many of them know and love Zack, but the ones who don’t give him a double take, a common reaction to seeing a white guy so at home among a sea of Indian people. It’s especially entertaining when they hear him speaking in Gujarati.

Out of the corner of Bina’s eye, she sees Suhani reach for Zack’s hand. Zack shifts to face her. His jaw is clenched. Suhani mouths, I’m really sorry. Zack shakes his head, then says I’m sorry back. He looks up and locks eyes with Bina, whose gaze is clearly fixed on them. Shit. Bina turns away quickly and pretends to be lost in the conversation between Deepak and Natasha. The last thing she needs is for Zack to think she’s a nosy mother-in-law. She had a nosy mother-in-law whose meddling made Bina often want to punch a wall.

“Anuj! Get over here.” Zack gives Bina a big grin as if to reassure her that everything is fine.

Anuj asks someone to hold his spot in the bar line and stands next to Bina. They have a collective group hug, the kind they haven’t shared since Suhani and Zack’s wedding.

My family, Bina thinks with a flash of pride. Her people are here. She’ll be okay enough.

“How nice to see you all together!” Jiten’s voice interrupts the moment. Deepak gives him a cheery “Good to see you,” the kind that would make anyone observing them think that they’re still best friends and that their wives still talk every day. Bina isn’t sure whether to be annoyed or amused that men can have such simple and surface-level friendships, ones that rarely lead to conflict.