Family Ties

“We are!” She stomped her foot automatically, and I did my best not to laugh. The foot in question was currently about eighteen inches above the floor. She tried to hop off the counter, but I blocked her with my body.

“You’re not getting away that easily.” I boxed her in with my arms again.

“If you and Wren are ‘just friends,’ then why does your face smell like lavender?”

“I must’ve gotten some on my hands when I poured it in the bath.”

“Liar.”

“It isn’t polite to call someone that.”

“Then don’t lie.”

“You’re not going to let me go until I tell you what you want to hear, are you?”

“Not until you admit the truth.”

“Fine,” she practically spat. “Wren kissed me. Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted?”

“Yes,” I said calmly. “And yes.”

Her brow furrowed and she waited for the other shoe to drop.

I waited with her.

“You aren’t upset?” she said at last.

“No. Why would I be?”

“You’re the only one who’s supposed to kiss me.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” she asked semi-sarcastically.

“It’s obvious you think you can only have feelings for one person at a time. And they’re the only person who can kiss you. But that isn’t how it works. Not for some people.”

“But it does for me.”

“I don’t think so.”

“So you know me better than I know myself?”

“I think you aren’t being honest about it. I mean, what’s the difference between how you feel about me and how you feel about Wren?”

“It’s different.”

My skeptical eyebrow did its thing.

“It is. It’s totally different.”

“Does Wren make you happy?”

“As a friend.”

“Honestly? If you’re being true to yourself?”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, a younger version of her father. “Fine,”

she said, her jaw tight. “Wren makes me happy. As… more than a friend.”

“Do I make you happy?”

“Don’t push your luck.”

I grinned and waited.

“You know you do,” she finally admitted. “Just not at the moment.”

“I can live with that. Baby steps, right?”

“Right,” she said cautiously.

“So… Wren and I make you happy. And you like kissing both of us.”

“If you say so.”

“Of course I say so. But do you say so? If you’re being honest with yourself?”

“You really want me to say it again?”

“I do.” I grinned, which made her roll her eyes.

“Fine,” she said, less petulantly. “You and Wren make me happy.”

“And…?”

She looked put-upon. “And I like kissing you. Both! There! Are you happy?”

“Yes. Now, was that so hard?”

“No,” she said, although she feigned a grimace.

“Good. So let’s end on a happy note.”

“How?”

“Well, I was hoping for sex on the kitchen table—”

Her eyes flew comically wide.

“—but I’d settle for a kiss.”

She did her best not to laugh, but her lips pursed in a grin. She compressed them and looked away.

“Uh-oh,” I teased, “now I’ve done it. Made you smile.”

“No, you didn’t. And don’t you dare call me a liar.”

“Not a chance.”

“You know, one of these days I’m going to stay mad at you.”

“You’re probably right. But we’ll deal with that when it happens.”

“How can you be so calm about all this?” she asked. “You’re slowly tearing down everything I believe.”

“I’m not tearing down. Let’s say… I’m ‘remodeling.’”

“What if I don’t like it when you’re done?”

“Then we’ll remodel some more, until we find something we both can live with.”

That took her by surprise.

“You’re changing me as much as I’m changing you,” I said.

“I doubt it.”

“Maybe you’re right. But I genuinely want you to be happy.”

“I want you to be happy too,” she said after a moment. “Which is why I put up with all your nonsense.”

“It isn’t nonsense and you know it. Now, I need to get dinner in the oven.

Can I have that kiss before I do?”

“And if I say no?”

“I’ll pout.” I suited actions to words.

She tried not to smile but eventually gave in. I fixed my expression and looked into her eyes. She gazed back, and I felt something click between us, deep and very satisfying. She must have felt it too, because she caressed my cheek.

“Sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve you,” she said, before her eyes flashed with mischief. “Then I realize I must’ve been a bad girl and you’re my punishment.”

“Ha! I’m your reward for being a bad girl.” I leaned in and kissed her.

She held my face in her hands and lingered over the touch of our lips.

After a moment I lifted her off the counter and she locked her legs around me. The little head thought sex on the kitchen table was imminent.

“Um, I hate to interrupt,” Wren said from behind me, “but are we gonna

eat any time soon?”

Christy squawked and hid her face in the hollow of my neck.

“Trip and I need to get some food in us,” Wren continued, “or we’re gonna be seriously drunk.”

“Sorry,” I laughed, “serious discussion.”

“I can see that,” she said dryly. She nodded at the broiler pan with the tuna steaks. “You want me to put those in the oven for you?”

“Would you mind? And set the timer for three minutes?”