After an exhausting day at work, I arrived home to discover my wife of thirty-eight years standing outside the locked gate of our own house, holding a small paper bag of groceries. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at me and whispered

me.”

Linda blinked.

“What?”

“For a week,” Megan said. “No discussions about the house. No paperwork. No arguing. You’re going to rest.”

I started to object.

Megan pointed a finger at me.

“And Dad, that includes you.”

For the first time in days, Linda laughed.

So we went.

And that week became the most peaceful vacation we’d enjoyed in years.

We took slow morning walks.

Ate meals without arguments.

Visited places we’d always meant to see.

And spent evenings talking about anything except money, property, and family obligations.

Linda began