Chapter 11

“They must hide those words pretty good,” Monica frequently observed to Parvinder via Face Time. “She’s been carrying that book around—with no pen, I might add—for three years. Meanwhile, I was in that used romance book store the other day on my lunch break, and the girls behind the counter were all, ‘Oh, you must be Ammaji’s daughter!’ I was like, that’s daughter-in-law to you, first of all, and by the way, What?!”

“Leave her be,” Parvinder had suggested in his typical gentle, hands-off manner. “It’s not like she’s reading the sexy parts aloud at the dinner table.”

“Which, by the way, if she does start doing, I’m putting her on the first plane back to you,” Monica invariably menaced.

In answer to Ashok, Ammaji shook her head no. Without looking up from her word search, she inclined her cheek to be kissed.

“Okay,” Ashok said, trying not to come across as quite so visibly relieved. “I have a show tonight.”