"Think about it again. Did you accidentally offend Mary?"
As the matriarch, Connie was still prepared to help George and his wife reconcile their relationship.
"Could that be? I really can't remember." George, who had been focused on the team invitational recently, couldn't figure out how he could have offended his wife.
"Is that so?" Connie saw that George didn't look like he was lying, so she changed her approach and asked, "Then when was the last time you two were intimate?"
For old couples, the harmony of their intimate life can often reflect the state of their relationship.
"This…" Talking about such private topics with Connie made George feel very awkward.
However, since they had already reached this point, George, who was dissatisfied with his marital relationship, took the opportunity to reveal, "It's been over a month. Mary seems very resistant to that kind of thing recently…"
As a normal male, although George was middle-aged, he occasionally still had such needs.
He felt both embarrassed and inevitably annoyed by his wife's uncooperativeness.
"Could it be menopause…?" After reaching her conclusion, Connie advised, "Women's temperaments do become strange during menopause. You need to learn to be tolerant of her…"
Menopause? George was a little unsure.
As a husband, George actually had some guesses about his wife's mood changes.
It needs to be specifically noted here that more than a month ago, Mary's position at the church was upgraded to pastor.
She gained the right to baptize and preach.
It could be said that Mary's "career" began its second spring from that moment.
Of course, it was also from that time that Mary's work at the church became increasingly busy, while her care for her family and husband became increasingly perfunctory.
It has now developed into her being critical of her husband.
Although George had some suspicions, out of respect for his wife, he couldn't say it directly.
Back in the living room, just as Connie was advising George to be more magnanimous, there was a knock on the door.
"Brenda, is something wrong?" Opening the door, George looked at the person and asked.
"Sorry to bother you at this time." Brenda, with messy hair and some water stains on her body, looked very disheveled: "The water pipe in my kitchen is broken again. If it's convenient, could I trouble you to come and take a look?"
Since her husband left, Brenda, who became a single mother, found life becoming difficult.
Therefore, within his capabilities, George often went over to help with small tasks.
…
In Brenda's kitchen, cooking utensils and ingredients were scattered all over the floor. Apparently, this single mother had been preparing dinner for herself and her secretary son earlier.
Because the water pipe suddenly broke, she was somewhat at a loss, and in her panic, she knocked over many things.
Indeed, it's very important to have a man in the house.
After George arrived, he first checked the leaking area, then picked up his repair tools, and soon fixed the water pipe under the sink.
"It's nothing serious, just an aging water pipe. If you have time, buy a new one, and I'll come and replace it for you then…"
After packing up his tools, George stepped aside and continued, "You take a look. If there's no problem, I'll head back."
"Thank you so much." The usually tough Brenda rarely showed such tenderness, taking out a dry towel and wiping the water from George's head while saying, "As a thank you, how about I treat you to dinner?"
Fixing water pipes, changing light bulbs, tightening screws, George had indeed helped Brenda a lot during this time.
Feeling the warmth, Brenda became emotional at this moment.
On the other side, due to the angle, George looked up and met the woman's gentle gaze.
As their eyes met, the atmosphere became strange.
"Mom, how much longer until dinner is ready? I'm starving!" Billy's voice from the living room interrupted the ambiguous atmosphere in the kitchen.
Billy, who was in the same grade as Missy, wasn't very intelligent or emotionally mature, looking a bit simple and slow.
Having to take care of such a son, it was clear how difficult Brenda's life was.
"Mary should have dinner ready, I should go back…" In the kitchen, George, whose mood had been interrupted, avoided the woman's intense gaze and turned to walk out.
…
At the Cooper family's doorstep, Mike, returning from Mia's place, saw George hesitating at the door when he arrived.
"George, what are you doing? Why don't you go inside?" Mike greeted him.
"N-nothing…" George, who was lost in thought, was startled when he suddenly heard Mike's voice.
Then, realizing what had happened, he thought of the troubles at home and tentatively asked, "Mike, what do you think…?"
He originally wanted to ask Mike if there was any way to improve a couple's relationship.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized: although Mike was smart, he was still a child after all. It wasn't appropriate to ask him about relationship problems.
"Think, what?" Seeing that the other party had no further words for a long time, Mike actively pressed him.
At this point, he also noticed that George's expression was a bit off.
"Nothing, let's go in. Mary and the others should be waiting for us to eat." George smiled and didn't bring up the previous matter again.
At this time, in the Cooper family's dining room, everyone except Mike and George was present.
"Mike, George, you're finally back, come and sit down quickly." Connie greeted the two as they walked in.
George, feeling a little guilty, went and sat beside his wife, looking at the lavish spread on the table and his family sitting around it, and a sense of remorse immediately arose in his heart.
Earlier at Brenda's house, for a moment, he admitted he was tempted.
But at this moment, feeling the happiness of family again, he was very glad that he had maintained his bottom line earlier.
"Georgie, how come you have time to bring Mandy back for dinner today? Isn't the arcade busy anymore?" After the pre-dinner prayer, Connie asked with interest.
Over the past two months, the arcade business had been getting better and better. Georgie, who was too busy, hadn't brought Mandy back to have dinner with his family for a long time.
"I'm back this time because I have two things I want to discuss with you…" Georgie said, "The first thing is, I want Mandy to move back into the house."
Currently, Mandy's pregnancy was already five months along, and her pregnancy was very obvious. As her activities gradually became inconvenient, she really needed someone to take care of her.
"No problem, Sheldon can clear out a room." Mary agreed to Georgie's request.
As she was about to become a mother-in-law, she indeed had the obligation to take care of her pregnant "daughter-in-law."
"The second thing is, I'm going to expand the arcade, and I'm notifying you in advance." Georgie stated his plan.
It was called a discussion, but in reality, it was just a notification.
It was precisely because he would be busy with the arcade expansion later that Georgie was eager to entrust the care of his girlfriend to his family.
"Expansion? Are you serious?" Connie asked in surprise.
George and his wife also turned their gazes to their eldest son.
In fact, through Mike's previous analysis, almost everyone in the Cooper family was not optimistic about Georgie's arcade business.
"Of course, Mandy and I have discussed it. We've decided to introduce fifty more high-end game machines." At this point, Georgie felt a bit like he was directing the world.
A high-end game machine costs at least two thousand dollars, so fifty machines would be one hundred thousand dollars, which was not a small sum.
Georgie had made a big move this time.
"Fifty machines? Where did you get that much money?" Connie pressed him.
"I've earned some money these past two months, plus Mandy also invested a portion. Together, it should be enough to buy the new machines." Georgie said smugly, "And, I've found a reliable source that can get me the latest game machines at a low price. This time, I'm going to get rich."
After Georgie's sales pitch, Connie and George were somewhat swayed.
In their understanding, making money was a good thing.
"Georgie, I think you still need to reconsider. With that money, you might as well buy a house first." From a practical standpoint, Mike offered his sincere advice.
Georgie and Mandy's scheduled wedding date was only a few months away. Before they got married, the matter of a house should also be put on the agenda.
Moreover, there's a saying: plan for defeat before victory.
As for the arcade, it was one thing for Georgie to mess around with it himself. But he actually invested the private money Jim had left for his daughter's pregnancy into it.
This point was truly ill-considered.