“Both!” I said with a laugh.
She laughed too. “The world’s first flying architect!”
“I can design my own targets!”
“Exactly!”
We laughed and made a few more jokes before we remembered why we were laughing in the first place.
“Do you really want to join the Navy?” she asked. “I’d support you a hundred percent if you do. I’d be proud of you.”
I heard something in her voice. “But…?”
“But nothing.”
I waited her out, and she eventually grimaced.
“I hate that I can’t lie to you,” she said. “You have no idea how that messes with my confidence. I’m always worried that you’ll see right through me and know what I’m really thinking.”
“Is that so bad? To trust someone enough that you don’t need to lie to them?”
“Well, not when you put it like that,” she said with feigned irritation.
I grinned and waited for her to turn serious.
“No,” she said at last. “I don’t want you to join the military.”
“Why not?” I asked softly.
“I’m… not exactly sure. I mean, I love my dad and brothers—don’t get me wrong—but…” She shrugged. “I guess I just don’t want that kind of life for myself. Or…” She looked at me through lowered lashes. “Or for my children. One day. I’m not saying that you and I—”
“It’s okay,” I said with a laugh. “We’re not painting the baby’s room just yet.”
She nodded without looking up. Then she fidgeted. “Are you upset?”
“That you’re talking about having kids together?”
“No. That I don’t want you to join the Navy.”
I thought about it before I answered.
“I can get used to it if you want to,” she said into the silence.
“I… don’t think I do.” I fell silent and tried to put my thoughts into words. “I guess it’s one of those things that’s a childhood dream but isn’t meant to be a grown-up reality. If that makes sense.”
“I wanted to be a prima ballerina when I was little. But then I really started learning to draw and sculpt, and…”
“You fell in love with art.”
She nodded.
“That’s how I feel about architecture. I love the idea of building things.”
“Exactly.”
“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.”
“What about?”
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. “But we aren’t actively trying to kill each other, so that’s something.”
“Rich likes you fine,” Christy said. “He’s just protective.”
“He’s protective all right, but he doesn’t like me. Sorry.” I stole another carrot. “You’re just saying that ’cause you want it to be true.”
“I am not,” she said indignantly.
“Yeah, you are. Sorry, honey.”
Wren’s eyes flashed at the last word, but I plowed ahead as if I hadn’t noticed.
“Rich and I will eventually see eye to eye—no pun intended—but not any time soon.”
“You don’t know him like I do,” Christy said. She had her rose-colored glasses firmly in place, so I decided not to argue with her.
“The rest of our visit was fine,” I said to Wren. “Good times with family, moonlit walks on the beach—”
“Very romantic,” Wren agreed.
“Lots of food and drink,” I added. “Oh… and one marriage proposal.”
Wren’s eyebrows flew up, exactly how I’d hoped.
“Oh my gosh!” Christy gushed. “I forgot to tell you. It was so romantic!
Danny had it all planned…”
I chuckled to myself as Wren realized what I’d done. She was stuck between being annoyed with me for the bait-and-switch or excited for Christy and her brother. She eventually settled on excited, although I could tell that she was already planning her revenge. She really didn’t like being one-upped.
Christy eventually wound down, and Wren fought off another yawn.
“We’d better let her get to bed,” I said to Christy. “It’s two in the morning here. We’re still on San Diego time.” Our bodies had finally gotten used to Pacific time just in time for us to return to Eastern. “Getting late for us too, though.”
Christy nodded.
“Well,” Wren said through another yawn, “I’m glad you made it home safe. It sounds like you had fun.”
“We did.”
“I’ll tell you about our trip tomorrow. It was good. A little stressful, but good.” She stood and looked anxious for a moment, like she couldn’t decide
what to do next.
I caught her eye and gave a discreet nod toward Christy.
She smiled and thanked me silently. Then she bent to kiss Christy’s temple. Anyone else would have thought it was a friendly gesture, but I knew how much affection it held.
“Goodnight,” she said to her. “Glad you had a good trip. See you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning,” Christy echoed.
Wren moved behind me and kissed my cheek. “I’ll get you for that,” she whispered, playful instead of malicious. She straightened and said in a normal voice, “Glad you made it home safe. Sleep tight.”
I touched her hand on my shoulder. “You too.”
She headed toward the stairs and bed.
“Do you wanna have a nightcap before we go up?” Christy asked.
“No,” I said immediately. “Thank you. I think I need to dry out for a couple of days. Your family doesn’t do anything in half-measures.”
“No,” she agreed with a laugh, “we’re pretty much overachievers.”