Family Ties

You have excellent taste, if I do say so myself.”

“I do indeed.” I bent and kissed her.

We chatted for a few minutes and tried to peek at their purchases, but they fended us off easily.

“The saleslady knows what we like,” Christy said. “Just ask her what we were looking at.”

Trip gestured at all their bags. “Looks like you already bought half the store.”

“For your information, Mr. Penny-pincher, we left you plenty to choose from.”

“And to think,” Christy said sweetly to Wren, “we bought these pretty things for their enjoyment.

“Yeah, we should probably take ’em back.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said, ever the peacemaker. “Let’s not do anything crazy. Everyone’s right in this case. Trip does a great job with the budget. I think we all agree.”

“We do,” Wren said as she slipped her arm around his waist and smiled up at him.

“And Trip, dude, the girls have their own money. Besides, Christy’s right… they’re buying all this stuff for us. Yeah, they like it too, but really…

Christy rolled her eyes but grinned at me from under her lashes.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Trip said. “Sorry, sweetheart,” he added to Wren. “I go a little nuts around Christmas.”

“I know,” she said. “You’re forgiven.”

“So,” I said once the mood had lightened, “where’re you off to next?”

“Ah well, it was worth a try.” I kissed her. “Have fun. Don’t spend too much. You don’t want your dad to have a heart attack when he sees your bank account.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. He already gave me a lecture about the plane ticket.” She looked chagrined.

“Uh-oh. Birdy’s in the doghouse?”

“No,” she muttered. “But I’m on a short leash, he says.”

“Extra reason to watch what you spend,” I said. “Just pay attention.”

I hugged her and kissed the top of her head. Wren couldn’t help grinning at us.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I told her. “You were right.”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“Uh-uh. Not falling for it. Don’t you have more shopping to do?”

We kissed them goodbye and sent them on their way.

“I love Wren,” Trip said as we watched them go, “but her spending habits are gonna change once we’re married. Big time.”

“Um… careful with that,” I said. “Compromise, remember?”

“You’re gonna have problems of your own,” he said. “Christy’s even worse. At least Wren actually listens when we talk about money. Christy doesn’t seem to have a clue.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to realize that.”

“Aw, hell,” he said, “I don’t know what we’re complaining about.