Speaking to male/female friends

we are a recently married couple living in cape town. i (the husband) have non muslim friends (husband and wife) that i know from university and they have 2 children and they live in jhb…question : can i (the husband) speak to this non muslim friends (male or female)? my new bride has a problem with me speaking to the female friend…now my wife has a male friend(non muslim) that lives in capetown and wants to speak to him and i told her that i will not accept or allow this to happen as a male can not speak to my wife period…please be very clear with your answer mufti as this is a daily argument in our new marriage.