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

perched on a tiny stool, opened a clean page, and handed Henry a pencil. Cooper waited, half-expectant,

A moment later...

what exactly did you draw here?"

you, Cooper," Henry

at the scribbles. "Are you sure your

page with his finger, and

can't even write my own

hit Cooper right in the feels. He couldn't write his own

Cooper studied the doodles, trying to decipher

looked more like wild animal tracks

who'd been watching

finally stepped in. She grabbed Henry's workbook

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

Henry's handwriting looked like a dog had run wild across the page. There were odd spaces in the middle, and he'd even tried to fill

in Henry's world, nine and "chew" sounded the same, so

it sounds the same, it counts as the same

you brought me back

all over her face. "No, no, it's just... Henry missed

After Cooper's visit, Grandpa

so

ared envelope into