on speaking terms

1.  Friendly enough to exchange superficial remarks, as in We're on speaking terms with the new neighbors.
2.  Ready and willing to communicate, not alienated or estranged. For example, We are on speaking terms again after the quarrel. Both senses of this idiom commonly occur in the negative, as in Brett and his brother haven't been on speaking terms for years. The idiom was first recorded in 1786.