Family Ties

”

“That’s how I feel about architecture. I love the idea of building things.”

“So… I guess that’s settled.”

She nodded, and we fell silent. After a moment I rested my hand palm-up on the armrest between us. She put hers in mine and I squeezed gently.

We’d just made our first major decision as a couple. I didn’t know whether to be pleased or scared to death.

We made it home a little before one in the morning. Wren was waiting up for us, although she looked like she’d been dozing the moment before. She smiled tiredly and stood as we came through the front door.

“Welcome home. Did you have a—? Oh my God, what happened to your eye?”

“Oh, this?” I said disingenuously.

She looked at Christy in alarm. “Did things go okay with your parents?”

“More than okay. They loved him!”

Wren looked confused, but who could blame her? My left eye was still a livid purple that had only just started fading. The cut was healing well—Rich had given me good advice—but it was still covered with a bandage. Christy’s tone was completely at odds with my appearance, so I understood Wren’s reaction.

“She’ll tell you,” I said to Wren. Then I went back out to the Cruiser for more luggage.

The girls had moved to the kitchen when I returned with the first load, so I headed straight upstairs and dropped the suitcases in Christy’s room. I took one more trip to get the last two and then hauled our smaller ones and carry-on bags upstairs as well.

I finally joined them in the kitchen, where Christy was eating a snack and still talking about our visit.

Wren stopped her. “You still haven’t told me what happened to Paul. Was he in a fight?”

I slid into the chair next to Christy and filched a carrot. “Sort of. It was pretty one-sided, though. Just two hits.”

Wren’s eyebrows twitched up.

“He hit me and I hit the ground.”

Her eyes widened even further.

“It really wasn’t that bad,” I said. “Christy’s brother Rich and I had a little disagreement.”

I grinned at Christy. “You wanna tell her or should I?”

“I sort of fell asleep in Paul’s bed.

Wren’s reaction was a perfect mix of glee and amusement.

We told her the story in pieces between us. We left out the part about fooling around, but Wren wasn’t stupid. She could read between the lines, and her expression practically glowed with delight.

“Anyway,” I finished, “that’s how I got the shiner. Rich and I sort of reached a truce after that. He doesn’t like me and I don’t really like him.” I shrugged an apology at Christy.