After everyone else headed to the dining table, Mary stopped George just as he was about to follow.
"George, haven't you noticed something? Shelly's been a little off these past couple of days," Mary said, clearly worried.
"What's off about him? He's always been like that—kind of weird," George replied dismissively.
All he wanted right now was to get to the table and take a nice cold sip of beer.
Because of his health, George was only allowed to drink a little beer on weekends. It was easily the highlight of his entire week.
Seeing how distracted her husband was, Mary's expression grew serious. "George, you've been paying less attention to Shelly lately because of the team. You really need to take this seriously."
To be fair, Missy had also been "neglected" during this time—but Mary didn't seem to notice at all. Clearly, she had a strong bias toward her brilliant youngest son.
In that regard, George actually did better. He treated all three of his kids fairly equally.
But right now, with beer on his mind, George had no interest in arguing. He brushed her off. "Alright, alright. I'll make some time to talk to Shelly and see what's going on."
With that promise, Mary visibly relaxed. Then she added, "One more thing—I have to work at the church this weekend. Taking care of Shelly will be on you. Remember, he can't eat cold food. It upsets his stomach…"
After that, Mary went into full instruction mode, laying out a detailed checklist covering little Sheldon's food, clothing, and daily routine, as if she were briefing him on a major mission.
Listening to the nagging, George rolled his eyes. Honestly, he really didn't like being alone with little Sheldon—it always meant endless headaches.
Then an idea struck him. "Maybe we could have Connie watch Shelly? You know she really likes him."
Mary thought about it, then shook her head. "No. Mom has her own life. We can't be that selfish."
In truth, Mary knew her mother's weekends were a little too lively—and not exactly wholesome. She was worried Shelly might pick up some bad habits.
Realizing there was no way out of babysitting duty, George sighed. "Fine. I'll ask Shelly what he wants to do this weekend."
As he walked toward the dining table, George's face fell completely. He could already tell this weekend was going to be painfully boring.
The family sat down together and, as usual, said grace before eating.
Once dinner started, George cracked open a beer and took a long, satisfied sip. Then he looked at his youngest son. "Shelly, how about going fishing with me this weekend? We haven't gone fishing outdoors in a long time."
He was trying to seize the initiative.
And honestly, fishing wasn't a bad idea—fresh air, peace and quiet, very relaxing.
What George didn't expect was just how much little Sheldon hated nature.
The last time they'd gone on a church picnic, he'd been chased all over the hills by bees. That experience left him with serious psychological trauma.
On top of that, Sheldon didn't like animals at all—especially slimy ones like fish.
So he rejected the idea without hesitation. "No, I don't want to go fishing. I'd rather stay home—"
Halfway through the sentence, he suddenly remembered Libby mentioning a technology expo in Houston.
Sheldon, who was deeply interested in things like that, had looked it up afterward. The expo was scheduled for Sunday morning.
"Maybe we could go to Houston for the tech expo," Sheldon said quickly, changing the subject, his face lighting up with excitement.
Just thinking about driving to Houston gave George a headache. Still, under Mary's watchful gaze, he reluctantly agreed. "Alright. We'll go to Houston this weekend."
"HOUSTON? I wanna go too!" Georgie chimed in, grease all over his mouth as he gnawed on a chicken leg.
Houston was the largest city in the southern U.S. and the most prosperous part of Texas. Georgie had wanted to see it for a long time.
Before George could respond, Missy—who had been sipping soup—dropped her spoon and shouted, "Me too! Me toooo~"
Then she grabbed Mike's arm and said sweetly, "Mike, let's go together, okay?"
Where they went didn't really matter. She just wanted to spend the weekend with Mike.
Seeing the troubled look on George's face—after all, taking that many kids on a trip alone was no easy task—Grandma Connie spoke up.
"How about this," she suggested. "You men go as a group to Houston. I'll take Missy and do some proper girl stuff."
Seeing Mike hesitate, Connie added, "Mike, you've been in Medford for a while now. You should get out a bit, clear your head."
Mike thought it over. He had recently turned down Regina's weekend invitation, and it was safe to assume the "Queen Bee" would be busy organizing yet another pointless group activity with her so-called perfect-body clique.
That meant Karen definitely wouldn't be free.
And as far as Mike knew, Lina's family farm was also busy this weekend. As the farmer's daughter, she probably wouldn't have time either.
All things considered, getting out for a change didn't sound like a bad idea.
So Mike nodded, agreeing to Connie's plan.
Then Connie turned to Missy, who was pouting, and coaxed her gently. "Missy, tomorrow Grandma can take you to the amusement park. After that, we can go to the salon and do some self-care. Grandma will make our little princess look absolutely beautiful…"
Missy was clearly tempted—but she still turned her face away in protest. Obviously, this wasn't enough to outweigh her determination to stick with Mike.
"Unlimited ice cream," Connie added with a grin, raising the stakes.
"Really?" Missy's eyes instantly sparkled. Then she deliberately put on a serious face and said in a very grown-up tone, "Well… I guess I can reluctantly spend the day with you tomorrow, Grandma."
In just one dinner, Connie single-handedly arranged everyone's weekend plans.
Even better, everyone was happy with the outcome.
George, especially, was thrilled that Mike would be coming along—it would make the trip much easier for him.
After dinner, as Mike prepared to leave with Connie, Missy called out to him eagerly. "Mike, don't forget my present when you come back from Houston!"
Yes, Georgie passing his math test was now common knowledge in the family.
George had kept his promise and bought him a regulation football.
As for what he'd promised Sheldon and Mike, George said he'd make good on that too before the weekend was over.
"I won't forget," Mike said with a smile. "I'll bring Elsa back for you."
As Missy cheered happily, Mike followed Connie across the street to her house.
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