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?
Maybe those legendary family genes were finally kicking in.
He perched on a tiny stool, opened a clean page, and handed Henry a pencil. Cooper waited, half-expectant, as Henry got down to business.
A moment later…
“Buddy, what exactly did you draw here?” Cooper asked, squinting at the page.
“That’s you, Cooper,” Henry said, dead serious.
After Cooper’s visit, Grandpa Hansen was so thrilled, he nearly shoved a red envelope into Cooper’s pocket, ready to spoil him rotten. “Cooper, this kid is something else—just fantastic!” If Cooper had asked for the moon, Grandpa would’ve tried to buy it.
With that, Cooper scooped up sweetie and headed over to the Irvin family’s place.
After that, whenever Mia and Andre came home, their son and his uncle were nowhere to be seen—off on another adventure.
A week later, Cooper headed out again, and Mia and Andre decided to check on Henry’s progress.
“So, what did your uncle teach you?” they asked.
“Cooper taught me how to drive bumper cars!” Henry beamed.
The couple exchanged a look: “…”
But to their shock, Henry could finally write—and he could actually write the number nine as clear as day.

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