Greg had felt like something was wrong for a few days now. He just couldn't shake it. Everywhere he went, he felt eyes on him. Everything he did he kept wondering if he had seen these people before, this car before...

He had been writing it off as paranoia. Something brought on by the stress, the lack of sleep, and a disturbed home life. But the sensation of being followed continued. And now, using the home desktop instead of his laptop, he had found out why.

He had meant to search for “cheap princess dresses” to work out the price for an attractive prom dress for Jill. It wouldn't be for a while, but he had heard some horror stories and wanted to work out the cost before prom season was on their backs. And what should crop up but “cheap private investigators near elmtree” in the search history.

He had held back judgment briefly. It could have been an innocent search. Or something from the kids. Or something searched for a while ago. But digging through the web history, he quickly found out that yes, Edward had hired a private investigator to tail him. He could not find out exactly what for, but he could see that the money had been leaving their joint account for two weeks now.

Greg sighed, shook his head, and got up. He decided to leave the computer running, with all the tabs open to show Edward. He was about to go and start the talk when he heard the door open and footsteps rushing in. The kids were back. He couldn't do this in front of the kids.

With another sigh, he left the office, locking the door behind him, and wandered into the kitchen. The table was set, Tom was sitting ready for his food, Jill was still taking off her ridiculously elaborate shoes, and Edward was talking to Tom about the day, an obviously fake smile plastered on his face, as he served the lasagna.

“Hey kids,” Greg said. “Good day at school?”

“Dad's home!” Tom exclaimed with a huge grin. Greg had expected him to jump down and run over for a hug, but nothing happened. “Yeah, the day was great, we made some things explode in chemistry.” Tom kept smiling as he talked, but he didn't move from his chair. “We weren't supposed to, but we did anyway. The teacher said he would suspend us if we did it again.”

“Well, that's just dumb,” Jill replied. “Why would you do something dangerous you'd been asked not to? You could have blown your face off.” She undid the final buckle on her boot and slipped out of it, standing it neatly with the other shoes by the wall. The heel on it made it tower above the guys' shoes, and the shine of the buckles and studs made it look gothic and regal.

Greg shook his head a little. The kids were growing up far too fast. Tom was already becoming a teenager. Jill would soon be going to prom, then college. They weren't the same little kids that he and Edward had adopted. But he felt a deep pride in the knowledge that he had been instrumental to making them into healthy, happy, and whole adults. He pulled out his seat and took the garlic bread which Jill had removed from her plate, putting it back on the edge.

“Daaaad,” she grumbled. “I'm not doing carbs, Dad.”

“Pasta is a carb. And so are apples.” Greg smiled as she blushed.

“Well... I'm not doing gluten,” she replied. “It makes your gut swell up and stuff and you're all bloated and watery and it makes you ugly and tired and fat.”

“Pasta has gluten in it too,” Greg added, the smile not leaving his face.

Jill blushed even redder. “Well... nobody is eating bread anymore. It's basically toxic.”

“Shut up and eat your toxic garlic bread, Jill,” Greg said with a slight chuckle. He noticed that Edward didn't have any on his plate. “You on a no bread diet too?” he asked.

Edward shrugged. “I figured I didn't need all the butter.” He patted his belly. He was so cute that Greg felt his chest tighten.

“You're fine,” he said, putting a slice of garlic bread on Edward's plate. As he did so he remembered the private investigator. No, not now. They had to keep giving the kids a good example. He could worry about Edward going literally insane later on. For now, they needed to show the kids that they were united, happy, a family.

Edward blushed and took a small bite of the garlic bread. “Happy?” he asked.

“Nope.” Greg reached out and took an extra slice of garlic bread for himself. “Now I am.” He bit into it. “Mmm, carbs.” He bit into it again. “Mmm, gluten. Mmm, butter. Mmm, toxic bread.”

“Dad, stop it,” Jill mumbled. “It's embarrassing.”

“It's only us here,” Greg replied. “Mmm, so toxic. It really is the toxins that bring out all the garlicky flavor.”

Edward laughed a little and carried on eating his own garlic bread.

***

After dinner, Greg offered to help Edward clear the table. But it was Tom's turn emptying the dishwasher so they could load it again. And he couldn't make the kids do the chores together, and get away from them that way, because Jill had homework.

So he waited until both kids were occupied in the living room, Jill with her homework, Tom playing some war game on the TV, so that he could quietly take Edward aside into the office.

Locking the door behind him, he realized the computer had turned off. He wondered if he ought to turn it back on for evidence, but then decided that it was better to get this over and done with, like ripping off a Band-Aid.

“Eddie... what the fuck?” It sure wasn't the most concise way to begin, but it got Edward's attention.

“What the what?” Edward echoed, putting his head a little to one side. A glint in his eye suggested that he had a faint suspicion what he was in trouble for.

“You hired a private investigator? Seriously? I mean... what the fuck for? It best be good because it's costing us a lot more than I would spend on finding out if I use the handicap parking spaces when the parking lot is full, or some shit like that.” Greg locked eyes with Edward.

Edward looked down at the floor. “It doesn't matter. He didn't find anything. I was just... overreacting.”

“No, you're not getting out of this. You hired a private investigator to follow me, your own husband, for two fucking weeks, Eddie. Two weeks. What did you expect to find?” Greg stepped in a bit closer, but Edward still evaded his gaze.

“Promise you won't be mad,” Edward asked.

“No. I can't promise that. Tell me.” Greg took Edward's chin and lightly lifted his face. Edward's hazelnut eyes stared up into Greg's, looking as innocent as he could manage to look. “Tell me.”

“I... I thought you were cheating on me,” Edward said as quietly as possible, his eyes darting to the side, avoiding Greg's face.

“You what?” Greg knew what he had heard, but he didn't quite believe it. “Why?”

“Well, you're always away...” Edward began.

“Working. To pay our bills so we can eat, have electric, clothe our kids... oh, and apparently hire strangers to spy on me,” Greg replied.

“Well, maybe if your promotions actually happened I wouldn't be so suspicious.”

“So... you're blaming me for not getting a promotion that is literally between thirty people each time?” Greg shook his head and took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice quiet.

“But it's okay, he didn't find anything, so I suppose I overreacted...” Edward took Greg's hand and pushed it aside, so he could go back to looking at the floor.

“You didn't think you had overreacted yesterday, when you paid him out of our joint account. You idiot.” Greg sighed. “When, if ever, did you regain your faith in me?”

“Well, I had this evening, when I saw you with the kids, but...”  Edward trailed off and sighed.

“But?”

“Well, you're not exactly acting like an innocent person right now,” Edward explained.

“No, I'm not. I'm acting like a person who just found out that his partner of eighteen years, husband of twelve, has so little faith in their marriage that not only does he believe this hard-working person is cheating on him, but he thinks the best way around this is to spend the hard-working person's money on some crummy PI to follow him around and drive him crazy. I'm acting like that kind of a person. I wonder why that might be?” Greg was amazed at himself for keeping his voice down this time, but still needed to catch his breath as he waited for Edward to reply.

“We can't go on like this, Greg,” Edward finally said, walking over to the desk chair and collapsing into it. “You're never home, I'm going crazy... To be honest I fucking hate myself and I can't see how you could ever love me. And no, I can't trust you because I don't see how any of what you say to me is true.”

Greg sighed and sat down on the edge of the desk. “And what am I supposed to do about that, crazy person?” he asked softly, stroking Edward's hair.

“Let's just get away. Just for a week. You and I. The kids can have a nanny, hell, my mother can stay over. She'd love to spend time with her grandkids. And we can go and relax on the beach, make love the way we used to, eat out every night—”

“You're talking about that couples resort again, aren't you?” Greg interrupted. He could see right through this sort of talk. “Why are you so obsessed with it?”

Edward shrugged. “I've heard a few good things about it. A few guys I know say it's super friendly, really accommodated their needs, changed their lives. My life could do with changing, Greg.”

Those words.

Those words hurt Greg to the very core of his soul.

All he wanted was to provide his family with a good life. To bring home good money so that they could eat what they wanted, wear what they wanted, study what they wanted. Make sure they never had to work or beg or budget so long as they lived under his roof. Take all their cares away.

The idea that Edward, his husband of a dozen years, hated this life, hated himself, and wanted to change the life Greg had made for him... That idea felt like being burned alive from the inside out. It hurt. It tore. It made Greg want to cry and shout and hit something. Everything he had done, all that hard work, all that sacrifice. And it was useless. He had just made Edward unhappy.

That one tiny sentence. Those last seven words. And they brought him crashing down.

“Sure, let's go,” Greg said quietly.

Edward's head lifted sharply. “Really?” he asked with the sort of trepidation someone might use when doubting if a winning lottery ticket was real or a prank.

Greg nodded. “Yeah, really. I mean, I don't think it would radically change our lives. I don't believe in pixie dust. But maybe a change of scenery, a few days off, some time away from the house and the kids... Maybe a little break will do us both some good.”

Edward let out a sigh of relief and wrapped both arms around Greg's waist, burying his face into his husband's thigh. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said softly. “I promise you, it will help.”

“How many of your friends has it helped who are single now?” Greg asked.

Edward hesitated. “Well, it isn't perfect. But most of them had not been together long. We have almost twenty years of knowing one another. We have more to work with.”

Greg nodded. He couldn't argue with that. Maybe all it would take to fix their relationship really was a vacation somewhere with a beach. “Anything is worth trying,” he said, stroking Edward's hair.

Edward stood up and moved even closer to where Greg was sitting on the table. Greg spread his knees so Edward could walk up between his thighs. He returned his hand to Edward's hair. Edward sighed. “I want this to work,” he said.

Greg nodded. “I do too.” He wrapped his arms around Edward's body and lightly crossed his ankles behind his hips, holding him as close as he possibly could. He just felt so soft, so warm, so perfect. How could this guy think he was being cheated on?

“When do you think we can book the resort, then? Because Mommy will fly down here within an hour's notice, knowing her, and I'm ready whenever,” Edward said.

Greg shrugged, still not letting go. “Well... I've got a couple of meetings tomorrow. And the five-day presentation of the new range starts on Saturday. And after that we're really near the end of the month so I'll need to boost my sales cause of all that lost time and—” He stopped himself as he felt Edward sigh heavily. “Okay, okay, I'll get the time off. We'll go on Saturday. What do I need to pack?”

Edward's arms wrapped tightly around Greg's chest and Edward nuzzled him gently. Greg sighed and kept stroking Edward's hair and back. It would be fine. He was sure of it. He could get that time off no problem, right? He'd done enough work to make up for it. And he was always covering for other people. So, Mark Trent basically had to give him that week off.

“Is it okay if I lie to Trent and the guys?” Greg asked.

“Is that seriously what it'll take to get you out of work?” Edward asked back, leaning away a little and looking into Greg's eyes. “Is 'saving our marriage' not a good enough reason?”

Greg shrugged. “It's not a reason I'm sure will get us the week off. That's all. There aren't a lot of things I think Trent would give me a whole week off for.”

“Whatever it takes, just get the time off,” Edward replied. “Tell them your mother's dying, the kids have opened a crack house and need an intervention, aliens are invading and think you're humanity's leader... Just get the time. We need this.”

Greg nodded. “I think I'll just say my mother-in-law is coming down to stay and I'm hiding from her by leaving the state. It's a more believable one.”

“Don't be a dick,” Edward replied, play-slapping him.

Greg leaned in and locked lips with Edward, kissing him passionately. “Don't you worry,” he said as the kiss broke. “I'll get the time off, we'll go to your beach, and we'll have some actual time together.”