Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

Jamie plopped down next to her, and Anya piped up, "Auntie, where's the baby?"

Mia thought of her mischievous little gremlin-the one she'd been dodging all day. "He's with your grandpa," she replied.

Lately, whoever made it home first got stuck with Henry's homework duty. And every time, it seemed like a guaranteed recipe for a few more gray hairs.

Even Naomi Mastin, the picture of patience, found herself tugging at her hair. "Henry, honey, you're supposed to write one '1' in each square. Not a never- ending line of '1's all the way down the page."

But Henry's notebook was a battlefield of wobbly ones.

When his dad walked through the door, Henry would dash over, notebook clutched tight, hoping for a compliment. Andre would just stand there in silence, staring at the pages, questioning every life decision.

Back in the day, Andre thought Henry's wild antics were his biggest headache. Now, he realized that was just the warm-up act.

One afternoon, Cooper was summoned home out of the blue. His sister had called, sugar-coating her request with every sweet word she could muster. "So, what did Henry do this time?" Cooper asked, suspicious of Mia's sudden affection. He knew the family's little troublemaker had to be involved.

But Mia shook her head, crossing her heart. "Sweetie didn't get into any trouble. He just misses you."

And just like that, Cooper was lured home.

"Uncle Cooper's back!" Henry shouted, running over with his notebook, eyes shining with pride.

"Cooper, look! I can write your name!"

Cooper raised a brow. Was his nephew some kind of genius?

family genes were finally kicking

on a tiny stool, opened a clean page, and handed Henry

A moment later...

here?" Cooper asked,

Henry

at the scribbles. "Are you sure your uncle looks

poked the page with his

I can't even write my

right in the feels. He couldn't write his own name,

studied the doodles, trying to decipher

more like wild

who'd been

in. She grabbed Henry's

a one. See? If you put them together, it's

page. There were odd spaces in the middle, and he'd even tried to fill them

it was supposed to be a nine. But in Henry's world, nine and "chew" sounded

just shrugged. "Around here, if it sounds the same, it counts as

brought me back just to teach your kid to

her face.

After Cooper's visit, Grandpa

was so thrilled,

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