For the rest of the afternoon, Mike found a shady spot in the yard and knocked out a few rounds of high-intensity workouts.
Thanks to his Devil's Physique, he didn't have to worry about pushing too hard and ending up with hidden injuries.
All that consistent training was slowly but surely boosting his stats.
The positive feedback from the system kept him hooked—he couldn't get enough of it.
By the time he wrapped up, it was pretty much evening.
Mike wiped off the sweat, took a quick breather, then headed inside. He spotted Connie still in the living room, knocking back drinks.
"Easy on the booze—it's not great for you~" Mike couldn't help saying when he saw the pile of empty bottles in front of her.
"I'm good, kid. Meemaw knows her limits." Connie was already feeling a nice buzz, but her head was still clear enough.
Weirdly enough, for someone in her seventies who smoked and drank like a fish every day, Connie was tough as nails health-wise.
Seeing she was actually okay, Mike didn't push it. He hit the bathroom for a quick rinse, then headed to the kitchen to start dinner.
"There's pork tenderloin in the fridge. Meemaw's craving some fish-fragrant pork shreds. And go heavy on the sugar..." Connie called out with a grin when she saw him heading in.
"Got it~" Mike replied and got to work.
But before he could even fire up the stove, Connie got a frantic call from Mary in the living room.
George wasn't feeling well and had to go to the hospital. Mary was worried about leaving the three kids alone, so she asked Connie to come over and watch them.
Connie, who wasn't exactly the nurturing type, dragged Mike along to the Coopers' house.
The second they walked in, there were Sheldon, Georgie, and Missy—all three looking scared out of their minds, huddled on the couch.
They'd seen George clutching his chest, face pale as a ghost.
Their dad was the rock of the family, and seeing him go down like that had them all freaking out.
"Meemaw, Dad's gonna be okay, right?" Sheldon piped up the moment he saw Connie, desperately looking for some reassurance.
Georgie and Missy turned to her too, like she had all the answers about whether George was gonna make it.
"Don't worry, kids. George's built like a tank—he'll be fine." Connie kept her cool and comforted them.
Truth was, she wasn't totally sure herself. Remembering how panicked Mary sounded on the phone, this didn't seem good at all.
Seeing everybody a little lost, Mike jumped in with a few calming words too. Then, noticing nobody had eaten dinner yet, he volunteered to handle the cooking.
Connie snapped out of it thanks to his reminder. She left Georgie to hang with his siblings and watch TV, then followed Mike into the kitchen.
She wanted to help, but with that buzz going on, she was more hindrance than help.
Plus, she had her own worries weighing on her.
"Connie, why don't you go keep the kids company? I got this," Mike suggested when he saw her "helping" was just making things messier.
Seeing Mike step up like that in a crunch moved her a bit.
If he wasn't here, she'd probably be clueless about how to handle three worried little ones.
"Thanks, hon~" Connie gave him a quick hug.
After she headed out, Mike whipped up a few of his signature dishes in no time. To suit everybody's tastes, he even made the fish-fragrant pork shreds extra sweet.
Even at the table, the three Cooper kids were still stuck in that dark mood.
Connie was heavy-hearted too, thinking about George. It hit her how, over the years, because of her biases, she'd barely shown any real care for her son-in-law.
The dinner table vibe was super gloomy, and Mike didn't really have a fix for it.
"Mike, do you think God really exists?" Sheldon asked out of nowhere, connecting it back to the church stuff from that morning.
He figured his doubting God was what brought this bad luck on the family. George getting sick? Perfect punishment.
All those thoughts had even Sheldon—the ultimate science kid—starting to doubt himself.
Mike didn't catch the full twisty logic in Sheldon's head. He thought about it seriously for a sec and said, "God? Maybe, yeah."
Jennifer's existence proved demons were real in this world. If there are demons, then God existing makes total sense too.
Even though he wasn't thrilled with some of Mike's antics, Sheldon was dead certain Mike was one of the only two smart people in the house.
Hearing Mike's answer, Sheldon went quiet.
A moment later, his scrunched-up little face relaxed. "If God does exist, that's actually a good thing. I'm gonna go ask for forgiveness right now..."
With that, he dropped his fork and knife, walked over to the side, and started praying for real.
Everybody else was used to his quirky stuff by now, so no one batted an eye.
Whether it was Sheldon's prayer working or just coincidence, the house phone rang a bit later.
Everybody looked at Connie—but she had a bunch of empties in front of her and was passed out face-down on the table.
Guilt must've hit her hard; she'd actually drunk herself under.
While the three kids froze, not sure what to do, Mike went over and picked up the phone.
Sure enough, it was Mary. She said George was still unconscious and things weren't looking good.
At the end, she worriedly asked how the kids were holding up at home.
Mike told her everything was fine and not to worry, then hung up.
Facing the kids' hopeful stares, he filled them in on George's condition.
"How could this happen~" Georgie and Missy got even more down.
Sheldon heard the news and started doubting God all over again. If God was real, He should've heard the prayer.
"This can't go on," Georgie said, all worried. "I wanna go to the hospital and see him."
The second he said it, Sheldon and Missy were totally on board.
Getting to the hospital meant driving.
Everybody's eyes shifted to Connie, snoring away at the table.
"I know where the keys are," Missy said. She went over, and in no time, fished a set out of Connie's pocket.
"Awesome—let's roll~" Georgie snatched the keys and headed for the door.
"Hold up~" Sheldon wasn't your average kid. "If Meemaw wakes up and we're gone, she'll freak—maybe even call the cops. We should leave a note."
He started heading to his room for paper and a pen.
"Wait a sec~" Mike stopped him and explained to the three: "If Connie knew we were going to see George, she wouldn't stop us. Better to wake her and get her okay on it."
Sheldon thought things through pretty well, but hey—he was still a kid with limits.
Before they could overthink it, Mike shook Connie awake.
"What's going on? Something happen?" Connie mumbled, squinting, still pretty out of it.
Mike filled her in on the plan.
"Yeah... we should go see George," Connie struggled to her feet. "I'll drive you guys..."
Seeing she was still tipsy, Mike said he'd handle the driving. Then he took the keys from Georgie.
Connie knew she wasn't in shape to drive, so she didn't argue. She slid into the passenger seat to give directions.
The whole crew made it to the hospital without a hitch. Mary, waiting outside the ICU, looked a little relieved seeing family show up.
And after hearing about George's condition, Sheldon spotted a little chapel down the hall. He decided to give believing in God one more shot.