All The King's Horses • •

[Paisley Amelia McIntyre]

Paisley didn’t mind taking care of Carson when Graham needed a few hours to himself to run errands or to attend play rehearsals. She had been an only child, but her childhood had been some of the greatest days of her life and the chance to repeat them with another imaginative child was something Paisley was not about to pass up on. She had a few friends who had children of their own now, but Graham was the only one who lived in New York and that meant that Carson was the one she spent the most time spoiling with afternoons in the park and adventures down by the water whenever the time allowed for it. If she sacrificed a few of her own hours to look after the little boy then she could easily get them back after she dropped Carson back off with his dad; Paisley didn’t have much of a busy life once the semester was over anyway.

There may have been a time when that was different, but she didn’t think about “what ifs” anymore. Instead she kept her head high and focused on her future and her teaching career. Now that it was summer and the blonde professor had a few more weeks to kill in the busy city before she returned back to Mill Valley for some time with her family, Paisley was taking every chance to kidnap Carson for a few hours while Graham worked on his plays.

Today, she just had a picnic and some little adventures planned in Central Park for the excited little boy. It kept him out of Graham’s hair when he was busy and gave Paisley something to do to prevent boredom from setting in and leading her to rearrange another part of her neat little apartment. There wasn’t really much left for her to meddle with in the confined space and without the clutter of papers to grade and texts to examine, Paisley had very little mess to keep on top of.

After a good few hours of games in the park pretending to be knights and stories over ice cream, Paisley glanced at the time and had a feeling that she should start wrapping everything up. Carson was enjoying himself on one of the play areas and so she let him stay just a little longer before calling him over and gathering up the things they had with them, like jackets and water bottles…and the armful of toys she had deemed necessary for their afternoon adventure; what knight could slay dragons without a sword? As the little boy swung her hand back and forth as they made their way back to where Paisley had parked her little car, she felt the low grumble deep in her stomach. Carson laughed at it and she smiled, fishing out her phone to send off a quick text while the path wasn’t too crowded with people. If you want to see your son again, order me a pepperoni pizza! I’ll pay you when I get back to yours! x She sent it off to Graham and presumed that he’d interpret that as they were on their way home now.

Once Carson was buckled in, Paisley followed suit and carefully drove back towards the street where her friend lived, laughing at Carson’s tales and questions along the way. She never thought about these afternoons like they were a chore or a bother and she enjoyed them probably more than the little boy did! Soon, she was parked up and helping Carson carry his things from the car to the front door of the house, where the little boy knocked loudly for his dad to come and answer. Paisley just hoped that Graham had seen her text and ordered that pizza; she was starving!

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• • •

TAGGED! Graham <3
WORDS! 670
OUTFIT! Summer Sass!
LYRICS! Birds of a Feather - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Graham Hunter Price]

Graham loved his son; he was all he really had left. But there were days when the five year old just didn’t understand that his daddy needed to spend some time doing other things than painting or playing cars. So it was a blessing when Paisley offered to watch him some afternoons. Paisley’s help gave him a break in the busy schedule he kept with Carson to do what he needed to do around the house. During the school year, Carson had school and then a babysitter in the next door neighbour when his office hours and his classes ran into the night. Graham hated that during those months he couldn’t spend as much time with his son as he wanted, but there were winter holidays and the long days of summer to fill with plots and plans and adventures in the big city.

As much as Graham hated to take advantage of Paisley’s generosity, Carson loved his time with the English Lit professor. He always came home, talking a mile a minute about the adventures they’d had in the park. He couldn’t take that away from his son, though they did have conditions; rules that the five year old had to live by if he wanted to continue going on those adventures. He had to clean up the playroom, which hardly ever had a toy out of place unless it was part of the little boys’ imaginative adventures still. With Carson out with Paisley now, it gave Graham the time to run the small list of errands he had. He could have easily done them with his son but the inquisitive little boy wanted to touch everything and ask a million and one questions whenever they went into a shop, so it was quicker without him and he was done what little there was on that list in a little over an hour.

With that out of the way, he could do what he’d asked Paisley to watch Carson for in the first place. He had a guest role in a prime time network show, just a small part but it helped to pay the bills. And, if they liked him, he could be brought in as a reoccurring character. He wasn’t expecting much, just this episode, maybe another. Thankfully, the way the studio filmed, he went through all his scenes that afternoon with only a couple hiccups. He was gathering up the bits and bobs he’d brought along with him when his phone signaled a text message. Lucky for him there was a pizza place just a block away from his house that he ordered from enough times they knew him by name. He fed Carson real home-cooked meals, too but the kid loved pizza, and there was no denying his father did, too. So he called ahead as he was heading to his car, ordered a couple medium pizza, one with just pepperoni, one with banana peppers, mushrooms and extra cheese. Graham kept the music low as he drove through the city streets, parking in his own driveway before walking the block down to the pizza place, paying and only stopping long enough for that, joking he had a hungry boy on his way home that needed to be fed.

As usual, when Graham got home and took a peek inside the boxes, there was a wrapped cookie settled in the corner of the top box. His little boy had everyone wrapped around his finger; including the big burly Italian man that owned the pizza shop, his wife and their sixteen year old daughter. Which one of them slipped the cookies in, Graham didn’t know, but Carson enjoyed them and they were a special treat for eating all his pizza, so he wasn’t about to say no. He had just set the boxes down on the counter when the big knock of a small boy sounded against the door. Grinning, Graham walked quickly through the house to the front; he swung open the door quickly before crouching down to catch his little boy in a tight hug and lifting him off the ground. “Hey,” he said, smiling as he stood again and moved out of the way to let Paisley in. “Did you both have fun today?” he asked, shutting the door behind Paisley.

Tag || Paisley!
Words || 717
Clothes || Proud Papa!
Music || Just For The Thrill -- Hunter Hayes
Notes || <3!

[Paisley Amelia McIntyre]

Paisley had lost track of the amount of times she had reassured Graham that she didn’t mind looking after Carson. That conversation was probably starting to sound more like a broken record with the longer she knew the drama professor, but it didn’t change. If Graham needed someone to look after his son then all he had to do was pick up the phone and Paisley was more than likely able to help. Even if she was swamped with work she could find a way to entertain the little boy and get through some of the papers on her desk, though she really had to thank the coffee maker for that once Graham collected his son. No matter how busy she was, she wouldn’t say no to playing babysitter for a few hours.

She wasn’t just friends with Graham so she could kidnap his son. No, she actually enjoyed the company of the drama professor, too. Usually, she only really got to talk to him if their lunches brought them to the staff room or the cafeteria at the same time, or if one of them needed to borrow something from the other. The rest of the time there was an excited little boy in the mix, too and the adult conversations about daily life seemed to get put on hold for silly games and stories of the day’s adventures. Paisley didn’t mind it either way and she still thought the father to be a good friend; he was one of the first people she’d met when she’d snatched the job at the university. She remembered those first few days so vividly and all the qualifications and letters behind her name didn’t do a single thing to calm her nerves, but the conversations she had had in the corridors had worked wonders to settle those butterflies.

Now, New York was her home and the professors at the university were the closest thing she had to a family in the bustling city. She couldn’t imagine her life anywhere else, even with how much she missed Mill Valley and how excited she might have been to head home and see her mom and friends again. On the other hand, she knew that for those weeks she was back on the west coast, she would miss everyone here in New York. Some of the professors she called her friends were already jetting off for the summer, but it would be once she followed suit that it really sank in for her and she’d start reminiscing about the antics over the year.

She smiled a big smile as Graham was reunited with his son and then stepped across the threshold into the tidy house. Sometimes she was surprised that a five year old boy lived here with his dad since the place was immaculate most of the time whenever she dropped Carson off after one of their afternoon adventures. “Yeah, we slayed the evil dragons and saved the kingdom, didn’t we?”

[/color] She reached up to ruffle Carson’s soft hair and then smiled again. “Sir Carson here saved me from getting burnt by the fire!”[/color] She added, carefully placing Carson’s bag out of the way for the time being. There might have been a new toy or two in the bag for Graham to find later, but she was sure there was room in the toy box for them. Letting her backpack fall from her shoulder, Paisley unclipped the buckle and searched inside for the small leather purse. “How much do I owe you for the pizza?”[/color] She couldn’t see it from where she stood, but the young woman was starving and after spending most of her life growing up in a diner, she could quite easily pick up the scent of the gooey, cheesy and meaty meal.
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• • •

TAGGED! Graham <3
WORDS! 673
OUTFIT! Summer Sass!
LYRICS! Birds of a Feather - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Graham Hunter Price]

Graham had never been a tidy person when he’d been growing up. His house had been littered with his toys. There had been more than a handful of howls erupting from his father after stepping on them. His mother had been a little better at avoiding the landmines in the various rooms and hallways but there had been a couple yelps from her as well. Eventually he learned the toys had to go away, and soon after that he’d grown enough to stop playing with most of them. Most had been donated afterwards, but there was still a couple boxes packed up and set aside in the attic of his childhood home. They were memories too precious to mother and son to ever give up. And whenever Graham packed Carson, Bo and the car up, grandmother, father and son all sat around the living room with those memories spread out around them.

With all the mess Graham had been as a child, it was incredible his own house wasn’t like that. It was really after Clara that Graham really started getting OCD about cleaning. Through college, his part of the dorm room had been in disarray. He’d had shirts tossed wherever, scripts and notebooks on nearly every surface with books and movies fighting for space against them. The other side of the room wasn’t much better, after all there were two guys on their own for the first time sharing a fairly spacious room; they were probably lucky they managed to push in time for laundry. Then Clara was around and she made them clean up after themselves, which he and his roommate had both needed. But then she was gone and there was no one around to pick up the mess two guys created, even if one was a grown man and the other only three. His mother had been around quite a bit, and Clara’s mother but eventually she went home and his mother followed shortly after; then there was just father and son with infrequent visits. Eventually Clara’s mother stopped even calling or acknowledging Carson, which just about killed Graham. It wasn’t his son’s fault, but his own parents had never stopped calling or showing up unannounced and it was all his son needed.

And then there were his students when he couldn’t help but bring Carson along with him to work, not to mention his fellow professors. This was how Paisley and Carson had first met. Carson had taken to Paisley quickly, which really didn’t surprise Graham. His son had quite a bit of charm in those big blue grey eyes. Graham watched the excited light brighten his son’s eyes as he nodded his head along to Paisley’s words. Grinning, Graham tickled his son’s side playfully. “How many dragons did you slay?” he asked, looking level into the little boy’s eyes. A little hand held up four fingers as a tiny, high voice tried to remember what number he was holding up. “Three!” he said, settling on a number he could remember and folding one small finger. Soon he’d be too big for Graham to pick up like this; soon he won’t want his father around. It hurt knowing the truth, but he also hoped that because Clara wasn’t around, they’d be a little closer. Graham’s brows raised, looking impressed. “Three? Wow, such a brave knight you are! And you saved the princess from the flames? Much braver than the king could ever be!” Graham said, pressing a light kiss to the top of Carson’s head before setting him down again. “Sir Carson Price, Knight of the round table, how about you put those toys of yours away, hm?” he asked, playfully tickling his son’s sides again before watching the adventurous five year old grab his bag and run off down the hall to his playroom.

“Pizza? I don’t have pizza,” Graham said, eyes narrowed in confusion as he stood again. “I have cookies,” he offered instead, walking with his fellow professor down the hall to the kitchen in the back. It wasn’t a lie, there was a cookie in one of the white cardboard boxes, but it wasn’t for a pretty English Lit professor but a precocious five year old who had half the neighbourhood wrapped around his still small, still chubby fingers. In the kitchen, Graham flipped the tops of one box revealing the ‘cookies’ before grabbing three plates from the cupboard. “I’ve got a pepperoni cookie and that cookie has my banana peppers,” he said, holding out a plate for Paisley. With Carson in the other room, no doubt playing with the toys he was putting away and taking new ones out, the adults could take for a few stolen moments before those inquisitive blue eyes and grumbling tummy found them in the kitchen, snacking without him.

Tag || Paisley!
Words || 804
Clothes || Proud Papa!
Music || Just For The Thrill -- Hunter Hayes
Notes || <3!

[Paisley Amelia McIntyre]

Paisley’s organisation these days came from her grad school professor at Berkeley. He repeatedly told her to keep things organised and eventually, one day, called her into the office with everything she had in regards to her work. He sat for most of the afternoon and taught her to organise, tidy and coordinate everything into files and folders, emphasising the importance of keeping the coffee stains away from the handwritten notes she had collected. Without him doing that for her back then, her classes and her schedules would probably be just as chaotic as the rest of her life. Chores and laundry were saved for whenever the thoughts and memories got the better of her and 3am raids with the vacuum cleaner and duster were not all that uncommon in her apartment. As a kid, Paisley could remember her mom being so busy just keeping the bills paid and the rent on time that chores were the things they eventually turned into a game on a rainy weekend, just to make their tiny house liveable.

Josh had once described Paisley as “a tornado ripping through a small town”, which at times seemed appropriate. She did usually leave a mess in her wake and Josh was forever returning things to her that she had left at his diner whenever she had been there. In college she was out of the door most mornings with the toothbrush still hanging from her mouth and even now she still had that chaotic energy from time to time in her everyday life. She gave off the appearance of being quite put together and organised, but an afternoon looking after Carson was all it took to bring out the more spontaneous side to the young blonde.

She watched with a smile as Graham asked Carson about the day. Paisley might be twenty-six, but she could never tire of running around pretending to be a hero, slaying dragons and saving the day. It had been most of her childhood and without those imaginative games back then she might not be the person she was today. Money had been tight and real treats for her came in the form of extra pancakes or a slice of pie when her mom wasn’t looking, so it was nice now to be able to think that those simple things back then had pretty much been the foundation for turning Paisley into the young woman that she was. She laughed softly as the little boy ran off with his bag and pushed the hair that had fallen loose from the braid back from her eyes. “Okay, I have slept in diners; you can’t hide pizza from me.”

[/color] Paisley warned, arching her eyebrows and not yet understanding Graham’s joke.

Paisley followed him through to the kitchen, still able to smell the food she had been craving for the later part of the afternoon. She clicked her tongue as the joke finally fell into place and then bit back her smile, blue eyes fixed on Graham as he elaborated further. “You’re worse than your son at times, you know?”[/color] She told him, shaking her head as she accepted the plate from him. Reaching down she took a slice of her pepperoni “cookie” from the box and moved it to the plate for just a second before taking a bite out of it, sighing in appreciation. If it could be deemed healthy, Paisley could easily live off of this meal. “Now you’re the hero saving the day.”[/color] She joked, savouring the taste of the pizza as it quelled the grumbling of her stomach.
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• • •

TAGGED! Graham <3
WORDS! 638
OUTFIT! Summer Sass!
LYRICS! Birds of a Feather - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Graham Hunter Price]

Graham’s mother had kept the house as close to spotless as could be with an adventurous boy running around the place, leaving things where they fell. He called it creative expression when he didn’t get around to tidying up his room, while his mother called it neglect; both her correct. He was organised when it came to work, but back then, the rest was chaos where creativity took control. Now, he tried his best to keep his own home as close to spotless as he could but Carson was so much like he was as a child. Whenever his mother stopped in for visits, she said as much. And Graham had enough memories from his childhood to know she was right. Every now and then though, when he just let things go, he could see Clara in Carson so much. In just though little quirks, in the way he brushed his hair out of his face, his mile wide stubborn streak, that cute pout that got him nearly anything he wanted from everyone but couldn’t convince his father. Sometimes Graham found himself wishing he saw that original pout around the house more often, but pictures would have to do. Not for him, as sad as he was for losing his wife, he felt worse for Carson.

He had been too young when Clara got into that accident. It would be a miracle if he remembered even the most obscure memory of the woman who gave birth to him. At the time, Graham had spent too many sleepless nights working through the house to keep it tidy. He couldn’t sleep in that room, not without Sarah. At first, when he did fall into a couple hours sleep, it had been on the couch or curled up with Carson after falling into the stories he read to his son every night. He hadn’t gotten over it so much as he faced it head on after a couple weeks of rehearsals all day, performances all evening and cleaning all night. He spent more time in that room when the show was over and he’d taken his last bow on that stage for the time being. Carson seemed to be doing far better than his father was who still caught himself sometimes, though rare, wanting to call out to Clara to grab the phone or answer the door. It just went to show how resilient children were.

Graham shrugged when Paisley spoke. There was no way of masking the saucy smell of pizza, no matter how hard anyone tried. When there was pizza within the area, you could always smell it before you saw it. “You’ll see,” he said instead of giving a proper answer. Once the plates were out and two were set away for himself and Carson, Graham peeked into both boxes, finding the actual chocolate chip cookie in with Paisley’s pepperoni. “That is for Carson,” he said, plucking the napkin covered treat from the box and setting it on the counter, out of the five years olds reach. Graham laughed, looking across at Paisley. “Where do you think he got it from?” he asked, winking playfully. Before he grabbed a slice of his own, Graham went to the refrigerator and pulled out two regular sized bottles of water and one children’s size bottle. He’d found them at the grocery and thought they were ridiculously adorable and perfect for little hands. So, naturally, he’d picked up a case of those as well for Carson. “I know it’s usually pizza and beer or soda but you’ll just have to make do with water,” he said, setting all three on the counter along with the cardboard boxes. That also out of the way now, he grabbed a slice. “Sir Graham, knight in shining armour, at your service, milady,” he said, bowing graciously at the waist as he took a big bite from the slice in his hand.

Tag || Paisley!
Words || 653
Clothes || Proud Papa!
Music || Just For The Thrill -- Hunter Hayes
Notes || <3!

[Paisley Amelia McIntyre]

The small house lived in by the single mother and daughter duo was probably saved a lot of damage thanks to the amount of time they spent at the diner, even before Paisley had worked there. She had grown up in love with the atmosphere and the people there and once she was older it just didn’t seem right skipping out on there to head straight home to an empty house where she would be left to her own devices for a few hours. Occasionally, she did it, but young Paisley hadn’t been such a fan of the silence, especially when she was still full of questions and self-doubts. She had no memories of her father, at all, and apart from the few photos Alice had kept around so that her daughter could see the man she bore few genetic resemblances to, there had been nothing.

She didn’t even know where the man was now or even if he was still alive. Paisley had turned sixteen, gathered up the photographs they still had of the man and then placed them on the fire one night when Josh had taken her camping. It might’ve been teenage attitude and angst that drove her to do it, but Paisley couldn’t understand how someone could just abandon their child like that and never think to pick up the phone or write a letter. She had never really told her mom, but every birthday and Christmas she had waited in vain for a card or a small gift to come her way from the mysterious man. The night when she burnt the photographs had been her way of letting go of those years of dashed hopes. She knew she had a family in the staff at the diner and while nothing romantic ever happened between Josh and her mother, Paisley still saw him as the father figure in her life, turning to him whenever she needed advice from someone other than her mom.

The situations were entirely different, but Paisley knew that one of the reasons she didn’t mind looking after Carson was because she heavily admired a father who was there for their child, regardless of the circumstances. Her mom hadn’t had it easy coping alone and she had told Paisley time and time again that she would never have made it if it hadn’t been for her friends, ready to offer help and support whenever they could. Even as a little girl, Paisley had vowed to be one of those friends if the time ever came and with Graham, it seemed to have done just that. It didn’t matter when or why, Paisley would always be there for him if he needed her.

Her arms were folded and eyes narrowed as she entered the kitchen. Knowing the kind of pranks and jokes that Carson liked to play in her care, she could only suspect that Graham was up to something similar. And she had been right. “I’m not being held responsible if that tips him over the edge to hyperactive.”

[/color] She had already treated Carson quite a bit today, hoping the sugar rush would wear off before she left him back in his father’s care. It was always the same when Paisley had him for a few hours and she got to indulge herself, too, in the sugary delights. “Hm, but he’s still got that cute look about him.”[/color] She said, keeping a straight face as she teased the drama professor and enjoyed the first slice of her pizza. Pale eyes flicked up to look at the water bottle and she smirked as she unscrewedthe lid. “A healthy fix won’t kill me, I’m sure.”[/color] Paisley did try to drink plenty of water each day, but sometimes it did get lost with the coffee she consumed and the relaxing drinks she would choose to end a long day with. Rolling her eyes, Paisley arched her eyebrow and fixed Graham with an amused look. “Don’t let it get to your head, Sir Graham, or else I’ll have to remind you of your place.”[/color] She said, playing along for a moment. They were the sorts of games she had played as a child herself and could remember most of them vividly.
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• • •

TAGGED! Graham <3
WORDS! 709!
OUTFIT! Summer Sass!
LYRICS! Birds of a Feather - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Graham Hunter Price]

Graham wouldn’t lie, it was hard being a single dad with a job that took up more time than he would have liked. He missed out on so much of Carson’s life when he was at the school’s theatre. He’d luckily, been there for the good bits, his first word, first steps, his first breath. But he missed other things, his first solid meal, which he’d been told was soft French fries that he devoured. There were a few professors at the university that had respect for him for being a single dad and standing up to take care of his son all alone. But they weren’t there after Clara died. They hadn’t seen how he’d missed weeks of his son’s life because he was running on fumes and spending as much time as he could manage away from his own house. They didn’t see how he crawled into his house, next to exhausted but still unable to close his eyes. They didn’t see how he went all those weeks on about ten hours of sleep altogether. They only saw when he’d finally picked himself up from the pity party he’d thrown himself. They only saw him after his own mother had threatened to take his son back home with her until he was good and ready to be a parent again. He couldn’t lose his wife and his son, so he picked himself up, accepted the job at NYU and started putting his motherless son before himself and everything else.

He was only now, after two years, starting to have a life of his own; if a life was considered to be able to grab groceries alone or having thirty complete seconds in the shower before there was a loud crash coming from the kitchen. Carson was a good kid with some troubles in the math department but he was getting there. That was on Graham, and he knew it. He should have been spending more time with him on his numbers and not the reading. Reading the kid was an ace, he read everything. But numbers still had him flustered. It hit Graham from time to time just how much more he could have done for his son, but he was trying his hardest to make up for it now. Sighing, Graham ran his fingers through his short hair, looking towards the room his son was playing in.

“I’ll see how he is before he gets it,” he said, understanding that what went on when Carson was with Paisley, stayed between the two. And that was alright with Graham. He knew if anything serious happened, Paisley would be on the phone with him instantly, or it would be the first thing she told him when she dropped the five year old back off at home. But since there was no blood on his son and no stories of horror, he didn’t need to know. Graham held his hand to his heart, looking across to Paisley with complete sadness in his brown eyes. “You mean to tell me I don’t have that boyish charm anymore?” he asked, plastering on his best crooked grin with just enough of a hit of charm to send it that side of cheesy. “Not after whatever it is you’ve eaten today. I’m sure you and Carson both had your quota for sweets today,” he teased, digging into his slice again. Of all the foods in the world, Graham couldn’t ever get bored with pizza. He loved it too much to ever be able to say the words “I’m sick of pizza”. Graham looked over at his friend with a serious expression on his face. “I promise not to have my pedestal built too high,” he said, as he broke out into a wicked grin with just a hint of arrogance to have the joke continue.

Graham heard the pounding footsteps, happy barks and laughter before he saw the pair run into the room, chasing each other around. Since they’d adopted Bo, he rarely left Carson’s side when they were home. “Carson, you hungry, bud?” he asked, already reaching for the plate he’d set aside for him. “Bo, go lay down,” he said when he’d turned back, though knew there wasn’t a lick of chance the dog would listen when Carson was home. The five year old was the owner of that dog, not the father. Still, Graham put a couple slices of the pepperoni pizza on the plate, set it in front of Carson’s usual seat and uncapped the water for when he pulled himself up onto the chair and decided to eat.

Tag || Paisley!
Words || 769
Clothes || Proud Papa!
Music || Just For The Thrill -- Hunter Hayes
Notes || <3!

[Paisley Amelia McIntyre]

People often made the mistake of thinking that Paisley didn’t care, when in fact she had a big heart. She just didn’t have time for excuse after excuse and often favoured brutal honesty over ‘aws’ and unnecessary sympathy that made the situation worse. Her mom called it ‘tough love’ and Paisley was inclined to agree. Whenever she used it she didn’t mean to upset anyone, but she just wasn’t a woman who would wrap cotton wool around a person or situation. If a student came into her office with excuse after excuse about why an assignment was late and none of them matched up or even had any relevance then Paisley would be straight with them, and, yes, some had cried. She never crossed a line into criticising something she didn’t understand, but at the same time she would step up and say the things other people felt uncomfortable to say whenever enough time had passed. The years had helped the young blonde soften her blows, but she still got to her point without dancing around the matter and dressing it up with a pretty bow.

Maybe Paisley had hidden away in books and college degrees while other people were living their lives and experiencing other great things, but she didn’t feel like she had made any mistakes in continuing her own education. Some people had blamed her doctorate for the ‘heinous’ break up back in Mill Valley, but the reality was that Paisley had found herself in the pages of old forgotten texts more so than she could ever find herself in the study of a lawyer who had very different dreams from her. There would always be people who saw her choice of NYU over a bridal gown as a mistake, but Paisley gave them very little thought when the rest of her life was speeding on by and she already had to race to keep up with it.

“If it helps I could always start fuelling you with sugar and candy?”

[/color] She teasingly suggested, keeping her expression serious for a moment longer. Treating the little boy was part and parcel and she would probably continue to do so until Graham told her otherwise. An ice cream, some of the jellybeans from the tin in her car and a sour snake or two wouldn’t do Carson any harm and most of the time the most serious injury the little boy obtained was a scraped knee when he ran too fast; it was nothing a silly game and a pocket first-aid kit couldn’t cure. Scrapes and the odd bruise from a childish adventure came with growing up and even now, at twenty-six, Paisley still found herself with them. Carson was injury free today, but she had caught her shin when hiding near some trees and the small scratches had faint bruises around them by now. She might have been an NYU professor with the title of Doctor before her given name, but Paisley still had a childish streak. “Pfft, I’ve got more boyish charm.”[/color] She teased, though there was a twinkle in her light eyes that probably gave away her lie from the second it crossed her lips. Narrowing her eyes, she shot Graham a playful glare. “Remind me to force you and Carson into living off my childhood diet for a week and then let me see you call my life today unhealthy.”[/color] Given the hours her mom had worked, Paisley had lived off of diner food and puddings and loved every minute of it. It was a wonder she was in such good health today, but then she had been an active girl since her early years and her move to New York had brought a healthier meal plan to life since she felt like it was betrayal to eat in another diner than Josh’s. Rolling her blue eyes, Paisley brushed the hair from her face before reaching for more pizza. “I’ll pull rank and forbid you from having a pedestal at all.”[/color] What rank, she didn’t know, but she had an active imagination to think on her feet when necessary.

Paisley grinned as Carson ran into the room and spared a moment to give Bo a quick, friendly pat. The little boy was a bundle of energy even after their non-stop afternoon in the park, but then Paisley wasn’t surprised. Chewing her pizza, another thought flooded her mind and she took a second to swallow the food. “Hey, kiddo, have you told your dad what Blitzen did to you last week?”[/color] She’d had a terrible date to get to then and hadn’t stuck around that evening, but Paisley still found herself chuckling at the memory. She had been looking after Carson for a few hours and had to run to her apartment to collect a parcel. Carson was playing with Blitzen when the giant dog decided to try and use the little boy like a dog bed, just because he often got to do it to Paisley when she chose to work down on the floor instead of at her desk. Carson had been squealing with laughter and had asked her to make the Alaskan Malamute do it again!
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• • •

TAGGED! Graham <3
WORDS! 868!
OUTFIT! Summer Sass!
LYRICS! Birds of a Feather - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3 <3 <3