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rsadelleWay back when, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lakeeffectgirl said, "Biz, you probs have a kid out there somewhere by now, and therefore are the NHL player most likely to star in a 'magically appearing two year-old' story." I, of course, love kidfic and wrote a handful of bits and pieces about Biz and his magically appearing two-year-old. It's been exactly a year since I last did anything with the doc for it, so today seems like a good day to post it.
Paul's not stupid, okay? When someone calls the Coyotes front office and says he's the father of a kid and follows it up with a letter on some law firm's letterhead, he doesn't just take it on faith. He has an agent and a lawyer, and access to the team's resources. They do everything official and careful. The part where he has to say it's possible he slept with the kid's mom but he doesn't remember everyone he hooked up with is not the best. (And it's worse because the kid's mom is dead now and she had no family and the lawyers and social workers are grasping at straws to put the kid with some kind of family instead of strangers.) The paternity test is actually easier; they swab the inside of his cheek just like on crime shows and then he waits.
They fast-track it, so it's only a couple of days later that he finds out he's the father of a two-year-old girl he never knew existed.
It was always this vague idea in the back of his head that he'd have kids someday, but he never thought it would happen now, or like this.
His lawyer and the team's lawyers tell him he doesn't have to take custody of the kid. He can sign over his parental rights and the kid will go to someone else.
It's a possibility, and Paul's tempted for about a minute to do that, but now that he knows the kid exists, he doesn't want her to be brought up by anyone else.
*
Paul gets healthy scratched for a couple of games so he has time to get things set up for the kid. He gets a picture of her and a list of her stuff they're shipping. Her name is Maisie, and she has curly brown hair and his nose, poor kid.
Paul's parents come down to help. The first order of business is to move him into a larger place. He picks a three-bedroom in the same complex, which seems easier than moving somewhere else. He and his mom go shopping for stuff for Maisie's room, stuff for the spare room, and kid-friendly food.
Then he has to hire a nanny, which is a hassle and a half. At least most of the chicks who apply are hot. He doesn't hire any of them, though. He hires Josh.
Josh has a good handshake, and when he sits down with Paul and his parents, he says, "People think it's weird that a man would want to be a nanny, but I like working with kids. I'm not a pedophile, and I'm gay so I'm not into girls anyway." He smiles at them. "And I won't try to steal your dates."
Paul likes him, he has a good background in early childhood education, and he seems pretty chill. And he can start right away, which is a definite plus.
Maisie arrives with a social worker, a suitcase, and a teddy bear she won't let go of. She lets Paul hold her, but she's not relaxed about it, and she cries when the social worker leaves. She's not comfortable with Josh either, so at least it's not personal.
*
Maisie cries a lot, and screams for her mom.
"Give it time," Paul's mom says. "She'll adjust."
Josh says much the same thing.
When she won't stop crying, Paul picks her up and says, "I know this is tough, and we don't know what we're doing, but we're going to figure this out. It'll be okay."
*
It gets easier by degrees. Maisie gets more comfortable with Josh first, because he's there more, but Josh tells him that's normal, and he also does his best to help.
When Paul gets back from road trips, Josh will do things like nudge him into a chair and deposit Maisie on his lap. "Why don't you go sit with your dad and let him read you a story?"
Maisie's wary of it at first, but she relaxes as Paul reads to her, until she's cuddled into his chest and pointing out the ducks on the page.
They get more comfortable with each other over time, and Josh makes sure Paul knows all of Maisie's daily routines so he can take care of them when he's home.
It gets better, until Maisie's glad to see him when he comes home and Paul feels like he's starting to get a handle on being a father.
Paul throws a party for Maisie's third birthday. His parents come down for it, and he invites a couple of the guys with kids. Josh invites another couple of families whose kids Maisie plays with at the park.
Paul buys her a pair of skates. It's hard to believe they make skates that small, and Maisie makes a confused face when she opens them.
"They're so you can go skating like me," Paul tells her. "I'll teach you."
"Put on?" Maisie holds the skates out to him.
Paul makes sure the skate guards are on before he slips the skates onto her feet and ties them tightly. He holds her hands when he puts her down on her feet. She takes a stumbling half step forward and makes a noise and grips tight at Paul's hands when she almost falls.
Paul says, "I've got you. It'll be easier on ice." He lifts her back onto the couch and takes the skates off.
Only later does he think to ask Josh if he skates.
Josh gives him an incredibly judgmental look. "I'm from LA. We don't ice skate. I have been rollerblading, but not in a long time."
"Rollerblading is good," Paul says. "You can work with that. It's pretty much the same thing."
He gets Josh a pair of skates too, and the three of them go to a free skate at a rink that's supposed to be kid-friendly.
Paul lets Josh find his footing on his own and skates with Maisie, bending in half and holding onto her hands as she tries to get the idea of skating.
She looks outraged the first time she falls, and close to screaming.
"Everyone falls down sometimes," Paul says, trying to forestall the tantrum. "You just get up and try again."
Maisie turns a very skeptical look on him. "You fall?"
"Yes," Paul says. "I fall sometimes too." He holds out his hands and lets her cling to them while she tries to get her feet under her, and they try again.
They haven't gotten very far when Josh swings past them and says, "This isn't bad."
"Good," Paul calls. "You're going to take her to lessons a lot."
Maisie tugs at his hands to get his attention, and Paul gives it to her as they keep doing slow paces between falls and near falls.
*
Paul gets Maisie signed up for skating lessons, and then promptly leaves on a road trip, so he doesn't get to take her to them until after he's back.
He gets her skates on and lets her out onto the ice with the other kids. There are parents scattered in the seats around the edge of the rink. Paul does a quick survey of them and sits down near a couple of hot moms.
It takes a minute for the moms to notice him, but then they smile at him and one of them says, "Which one's yours?"
"Maisie." Paul points her out. She's in the Coyotes jersey Pyatt had made for her that says "Little Biz" on the back.
"Oh," one of the moms says brightly. "You must be Josh's partner! You know, all the kids just love him."
"And Maisie's very well behaved," the other mom says.
"We're not-" Paul tries to say, but a third mom comes over and they all start talking about their kids and preschool admissions, and they sort of include him in the conversation, but he's a little off-balance and not quite at his best.
At the end of the lesson, Paul goes down to help Maisie change from her skates to her shoes, and then he takes her home and makes her half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for a snack.
"Why," he asks Josh once Maisie's settled at the table kicking her feet and licking jam off her fingers, "do the moms at the rink think I'm your partner?"
"Do they?" Josh laughs. "Like I'd ever date you."
"Hey," Paul says, "I'm a catch."
"I'm sure," Josh says. "How was her lesson?"
"Good. She got up every time she fell." Paul goes over and ruffles Maisie's hair. "Didn't you, kiddo?"
Maisie says, "Uh-huh," through a mouthful of peanut butter.
"How's she been doing?" Paul asks Josh.
"Good," Josh says. "I mean, I don't know anything about skating, but she seems to be getting better."
"Good." Paul ruffles Maisie's hair again. "She's got the genes for it."
*
Paul's at the rink during Maisie's next skating lesson, but he makes it out early and over to her rink before her lesson's over. Josh is sitting in the seats with some of the moms. Paul waves at them but goes to stand by the boards to watch Maisie.
"Daddy." Maisie waves at him so enthusiastically she falls over.
Paul barely keeps from laughing; that would probably be bad parenting. He waves at Maisie and says, "Pick yourself up, kiddo. Keep skating."
Maisie levers herself up and keeps going.
After the lesson's over and everyone is milling around getting the kids ready to go, one of the moms says, "There's an open skate tomorrow. It's mostly kids, and we're going out for lunch afterwards, if you want to join us."
Paul looks down at Maisie. "What do you say, kiddo? You want to go skating tomorrow?"
Maisie looks up at him. "Daddy skate?"
Paul ruffles her hair. "Yep. I'll skate with you."
"Yay!"
*
Josh skates with them a bit, but mostly it's Paul and Maisie out on the ice with the other kids and only one of the parents.
The place they go for lunch is all organic, and they have a play area for the kids filled with non-plastic toys. The moms all take forever, asking the waitress about soy and gluten-free and giving a million specifications about their orders.
Paul orders Maisie a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a side of carrot sticks and some apple juice, which is just what he would feed her at home.
Lunchtime conversation, when it isn't a couple of the moms directing their kids' lunches, is a combination of the best places to get allergen-free food in Phoenix and preschools.
"Maybe," Paul says once Maisie's settled into her car seat and they're on the way home, "it's a good thing they think we're together."
Josh laughs. "You may be tough on the ice, but there's no way you can handle dedicated, rich, suburban moms."
"I don't think I want to." Paul checks on Maisie in the rearview mirror. She's happily watching Phoenix pass by outside the window. "Do I need to be worrying about preschools?"
"Not like they are," Josh says. "You'll probably want to start thinking about it, though. It still takes her a while to warm up to new people. Putting her in preschool next fall before she has to jump right into kindergarten would probably be a good idea. Probably not the kind of places they're talking about. You're going to want something less high-strung."
After they get home, while Maisie plays with blocks on the floor and Josh reads, Paul gets out his laptop and looks up preschools.
He checks on Maisie to make sure she's fully occupied before he asks Josh, "Are all preschools this expensive?"
"Yep." Josh turns a page in his book. "Good thing you have a job."
"I need the job to pay you," Paul grumbles, and he goes back to reading about curriculum and educational philosophies.
*
Maisie cries when they drop her off on the first day of preschool. Paul and Josh have both done the tour and met the staff, but they both came to drop her off anyway, because it's a new experience for Maisie. Paul wants to be there for it, and Josh is going to be the one doing this more often so they might as well start out that way.
Paul crouches down to Maisie's level. They've already introduced her to Teacher Maria, who is waiting for them to say goodbye before she takes Maisie to meet some of the other kids.
"I know this is scary, kiddo," Paul says. "You're going to get to know some new people today, and you can tell me all about it when I pick you up."
"No," Maisie wails. "I want to go with you."
It's almost enough to break Paul's heart, but he's read about this, and Josh warned him, and he knows he can't give in to Maisie's tantrum right now.
"You can't," he says. "But I will be back to pick you up later." He hugs her, and kisses her forehead. "I love you, kiddo."
Josh crouches down next to him and says, "This is just like skating. You're going to make lots of new friends," and he also hugs Maisie.
Paul and Josh say goodbye, and Teacher Maria steps in and smiles at them before she leads Maisie into the classroom.
"Fuck," Paul swears when they're in the car.
Josh pats his shoulder. "Parenting's not for wimps," he says. "It's a good thing you're a tough guy."
*
Maisie clings when Paul picks her up, runs over as soon as she sees him and holds on tight to his legs until he picks her up and she can wrap her arms around his neck.
"Hi, kiddo." Paul smooths her hair back. "How was school?"
Maisie just buries her face against his shoulder, so he lets her be and waits for Teacher Maria to finish talking to one of the other parents.
"Hi, Paul," Maria says cheerfully. "We had a good day today. Everyone started to get to know each other, and we played some games and did some coloring. Isn't that right, Maisie?"
Maisie nods her head a little against Paul's shoulder.
Maria smiles and says, "The transition to preschool is always a shift. She's pretty normal." Then she says, "We'll see you tomorrow, Maisie."
Maisie turns her head enough to look at Maria, and she lets go of her death grip on Paul with one hand so she can wave goodbye.
Maisie barely lets go for Paul to buckle her into her car seat, and she clings when they get home, enough that Josh is the one to make lunch for the three of them.
Maisie refuses to go to bed for her nap, but she cries herself out in Paul's lap and he puts her to bed after she falls asleep.
"Should I worry?" Paul asks Josh.
"Nope," Josh says. "Pretty soon she'll realize this is boring and all she'll want to do is go back to her friends at school."
*
It takes most of a month for Maisie to get used to preschool. It's a long month. Maisie cries at drop-off every day and clings to whichever one of them picks her up. She cries when Paul leaves on road trips and sticks close to him when he comes home.
Paul tries to keep things calm and not disrupt Maisie's routine, but he spends a lot more time while he's home sitting on the floor playing with her or reading to her while she sits on his lap.
He follows Josh's lead when he asks her questions about school, and that seems to help her get used to school being part of her life.
Maisie never quite gets to Josh's predicted preference for school over home, but she eventually settles in, and when he asks, Maria tells Paul that Maisie's making friends.
"See?" Josh says when Paul mentions it to him. "You were worried for nothing."
"I wasn't worried," Paul says. "Mildly concerned."
"Uh-huh," Josh says, like he wasn't also upset by having to live with Maisie being miserable for so long.
*
Paul wolf-whistles, quietly so he doesn't wake Maisie up, when Josh comes out of his room and into the living room.
Josh does a slow turn. "What do you think? I know you think you're a fashion expert."
"Nice," Paul says. "Hot date?"
Josh shrugs. "Maybe. We've been emailing."
"Dating in the modern era," Paul says with a shake of his head. "What ever happened to picking someone up in a bar?"
"There's an app for that." Josh heads for the door.
Paul cranes his head so he can see Josh from where he's sitting. "Hey, Josh." He waits for Josh to stop and turn back toward him. "Remember, no glove, no love."
Josh flips him off. "Don't wait up."
lakeeffectgirl said, "Biz, you probs have a kid out there somewhere by now, and therefore are the NHL player most likely to star in a 'magically appearing two year-old' story." I, of course, love kidfic and wrote a handful of bits and pieces about Biz and his magically appearing two-year-old. It's been exactly a year since I last did anything with the doc for it, so today seems like a good day to post it.Paul's not stupid, okay? When someone calls the Coyotes front office and says he's the father of a kid and follows it up with a letter on some law firm's letterhead, he doesn't just take it on faith. He has an agent and a lawyer, and access to the team's resources. They do everything official and careful. The part where he has to say it's possible he slept with the kid's mom but he doesn't remember everyone he hooked up with is not the best. (And it's worse because the kid's mom is dead now and she had no family and the lawyers and social workers are grasping at straws to put the kid with some kind of family instead of strangers.) The paternity test is actually easier; they swab the inside of his cheek just like on crime shows and then he waits.
They fast-track it, so it's only a couple of days later that he finds out he's the father of a two-year-old girl he never knew existed.
It was always this vague idea in the back of his head that he'd have kids someday, but he never thought it would happen now, or like this.
His lawyer and the team's lawyers tell him he doesn't have to take custody of the kid. He can sign over his parental rights and the kid will go to someone else.
It's a possibility, and Paul's tempted for about a minute to do that, but now that he knows the kid exists, he doesn't want her to be brought up by anyone else.
*
Paul gets healthy scratched for a couple of games so he has time to get things set up for the kid. He gets a picture of her and a list of her stuff they're shipping. Her name is Maisie, and she has curly brown hair and his nose, poor kid.
Paul's parents come down to help. The first order of business is to move him into a larger place. He picks a three-bedroom in the same complex, which seems easier than moving somewhere else. He and his mom go shopping for stuff for Maisie's room, stuff for the spare room, and kid-friendly food.
Then he has to hire a nanny, which is a hassle and a half. At least most of the chicks who apply are hot. He doesn't hire any of them, though. He hires Josh.
Josh has a good handshake, and when he sits down with Paul and his parents, he says, "People think it's weird that a man would want to be a nanny, but I like working with kids. I'm not a pedophile, and I'm gay so I'm not into girls anyway." He smiles at them. "And I won't try to steal your dates."
Paul likes him, he has a good background in early childhood education, and he seems pretty chill. And he can start right away, which is a definite plus.
Maisie arrives with a social worker, a suitcase, and a teddy bear she won't let go of. She lets Paul hold her, but she's not relaxed about it, and she cries when the social worker leaves. She's not comfortable with Josh either, so at least it's not personal.
*
Maisie cries a lot, and screams for her mom.
"Give it time," Paul's mom says. "She'll adjust."
Josh says much the same thing.
When she won't stop crying, Paul picks her up and says, "I know this is tough, and we don't know what we're doing, but we're going to figure this out. It'll be okay."
*
It gets easier by degrees. Maisie gets more comfortable with Josh first, because he's there more, but Josh tells him that's normal, and he also does his best to help.
When Paul gets back from road trips, Josh will do things like nudge him into a chair and deposit Maisie on his lap. "Why don't you go sit with your dad and let him read you a story?"
Maisie's wary of it at first, but she relaxes as Paul reads to her, until she's cuddled into his chest and pointing out the ducks on the page.
They get more comfortable with each other over time, and Josh makes sure Paul knows all of Maisie's daily routines so he can take care of them when he's home.
It gets better, until Maisie's glad to see him when he comes home and Paul feels like he's starting to get a handle on being a father.
Paul throws a party for Maisie's third birthday. His parents come down for it, and he invites a couple of the guys with kids. Josh invites another couple of families whose kids Maisie plays with at the park.
Paul buys her a pair of skates. It's hard to believe they make skates that small, and Maisie makes a confused face when she opens them.
"They're so you can go skating like me," Paul tells her. "I'll teach you."
"Put on?" Maisie holds the skates out to him.
Paul makes sure the skate guards are on before he slips the skates onto her feet and ties them tightly. He holds her hands when he puts her down on her feet. She takes a stumbling half step forward and makes a noise and grips tight at Paul's hands when she almost falls.
Paul says, "I've got you. It'll be easier on ice." He lifts her back onto the couch and takes the skates off.
Only later does he think to ask Josh if he skates.
Josh gives him an incredibly judgmental look. "I'm from LA. We don't ice skate. I have been rollerblading, but not in a long time."
"Rollerblading is good," Paul says. "You can work with that. It's pretty much the same thing."
He gets Josh a pair of skates too, and the three of them go to a free skate at a rink that's supposed to be kid-friendly.
Paul lets Josh find his footing on his own and skates with Maisie, bending in half and holding onto her hands as she tries to get the idea of skating.
She looks outraged the first time she falls, and close to screaming.
"Everyone falls down sometimes," Paul says, trying to forestall the tantrum. "You just get up and try again."
Maisie turns a very skeptical look on him. "You fall?"
"Yes," Paul says. "I fall sometimes too." He holds out his hands and lets her cling to them while she tries to get her feet under her, and they try again.
They haven't gotten very far when Josh swings past them and says, "This isn't bad."
"Good," Paul calls. "You're going to take her to lessons a lot."
Maisie tugs at his hands to get his attention, and Paul gives it to her as they keep doing slow paces between falls and near falls.
*
Paul gets Maisie signed up for skating lessons, and then promptly leaves on a road trip, so he doesn't get to take her to them until after he's back.
He gets her skates on and lets her out onto the ice with the other kids. There are parents scattered in the seats around the edge of the rink. Paul does a quick survey of them and sits down near a couple of hot moms.
It takes a minute for the moms to notice him, but then they smile at him and one of them says, "Which one's yours?"
"Maisie." Paul points her out. She's in the Coyotes jersey Pyatt had made for her that says "Little Biz" on the back.
"Oh," one of the moms says brightly. "You must be Josh's partner! You know, all the kids just love him."
"And Maisie's very well behaved," the other mom says.
"We're not-" Paul tries to say, but a third mom comes over and they all start talking about their kids and preschool admissions, and they sort of include him in the conversation, but he's a little off-balance and not quite at his best.
At the end of the lesson, Paul goes down to help Maisie change from her skates to her shoes, and then he takes her home and makes her half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for a snack.
"Why," he asks Josh once Maisie's settled at the table kicking her feet and licking jam off her fingers, "do the moms at the rink think I'm your partner?"
"Do they?" Josh laughs. "Like I'd ever date you."
"Hey," Paul says, "I'm a catch."
"I'm sure," Josh says. "How was her lesson?"
"Good. She got up every time she fell." Paul goes over and ruffles Maisie's hair. "Didn't you, kiddo?"
Maisie says, "Uh-huh," through a mouthful of peanut butter.
"How's she been doing?" Paul asks Josh.
"Good," Josh says. "I mean, I don't know anything about skating, but she seems to be getting better."
"Good." Paul ruffles Maisie's hair again. "She's got the genes for it."
*
Paul's at the rink during Maisie's next skating lesson, but he makes it out early and over to her rink before her lesson's over. Josh is sitting in the seats with some of the moms. Paul waves at them but goes to stand by the boards to watch Maisie.
"Daddy." Maisie waves at him so enthusiastically she falls over.
Paul barely keeps from laughing; that would probably be bad parenting. He waves at Maisie and says, "Pick yourself up, kiddo. Keep skating."
Maisie levers herself up and keeps going.
After the lesson's over and everyone is milling around getting the kids ready to go, one of the moms says, "There's an open skate tomorrow. It's mostly kids, and we're going out for lunch afterwards, if you want to join us."
Paul looks down at Maisie. "What do you say, kiddo? You want to go skating tomorrow?"
Maisie looks up at him. "Daddy skate?"
Paul ruffles her hair. "Yep. I'll skate with you."
"Yay!"
*
Josh skates with them a bit, but mostly it's Paul and Maisie out on the ice with the other kids and only one of the parents.
The place they go for lunch is all organic, and they have a play area for the kids filled with non-plastic toys. The moms all take forever, asking the waitress about soy and gluten-free and giving a million specifications about their orders.
Paul orders Maisie a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a side of carrot sticks and some apple juice, which is just what he would feed her at home.
Lunchtime conversation, when it isn't a couple of the moms directing their kids' lunches, is a combination of the best places to get allergen-free food in Phoenix and preschools.
"Maybe," Paul says once Maisie's settled into her car seat and they're on the way home, "it's a good thing they think we're together."
Josh laughs. "You may be tough on the ice, but there's no way you can handle dedicated, rich, suburban moms."
"I don't think I want to." Paul checks on Maisie in the rearview mirror. She's happily watching Phoenix pass by outside the window. "Do I need to be worrying about preschools?"
"Not like they are," Josh says. "You'll probably want to start thinking about it, though. It still takes her a while to warm up to new people. Putting her in preschool next fall before she has to jump right into kindergarten would probably be a good idea. Probably not the kind of places they're talking about. You're going to want something less high-strung."
After they get home, while Maisie plays with blocks on the floor and Josh reads, Paul gets out his laptop and looks up preschools.
He checks on Maisie to make sure she's fully occupied before he asks Josh, "Are all preschools this expensive?"
"Yep." Josh turns a page in his book. "Good thing you have a job."
"I need the job to pay you," Paul grumbles, and he goes back to reading about curriculum and educational philosophies.
*
Maisie cries when they drop her off on the first day of preschool. Paul and Josh have both done the tour and met the staff, but they both came to drop her off anyway, because it's a new experience for Maisie. Paul wants to be there for it, and Josh is going to be the one doing this more often so they might as well start out that way.
Paul crouches down to Maisie's level. They've already introduced her to Teacher Maria, who is waiting for them to say goodbye before she takes Maisie to meet some of the other kids.
"I know this is scary, kiddo," Paul says. "You're going to get to know some new people today, and you can tell me all about it when I pick you up."
"No," Maisie wails. "I want to go with you."
It's almost enough to break Paul's heart, but he's read about this, and Josh warned him, and he knows he can't give in to Maisie's tantrum right now.
"You can't," he says. "But I will be back to pick you up later." He hugs her, and kisses her forehead. "I love you, kiddo."
Josh crouches down next to him and says, "This is just like skating. You're going to make lots of new friends," and he also hugs Maisie.
Paul and Josh say goodbye, and Teacher Maria steps in and smiles at them before she leads Maisie into the classroom.
"Fuck," Paul swears when they're in the car.
Josh pats his shoulder. "Parenting's not for wimps," he says. "It's a good thing you're a tough guy."
*
Maisie clings when Paul picks her up, runs over as soon as she sees him and holds on tight to his legs until he picks her up and she can wrap her arms around his neck.
"Hi, kiddo." Paul smooths her hair back. "How was school?"
Maisie just buries her face against his shoulder, so he lets her be and waits for Teacher Maria to finish talking to one of the other parents.
"Hi, Paul," Maria says cheerfully. "We had a good day today. Everyone started to get to know each other, and we played some games and did some coloring. Isn't that right, Maisie?"
Maisie nods her head a little against Paul's shoulder.
Maria smiles and says, "The transition to preschool is always a shift. She's pretty normal." Then she says, "We'll see you tomorrow, Maisie."
Maisie turns her head enough to look at Maria, and she lets go of her death grip on Paul with one hand so she can wave goodbye.
Maisie barely lets go for Paul to buckle her into her car seat, and she clings when they get home, enough that Josh is the one to make lunch for the three of them.
Maisie refuses to go to bed for her nap, but she cries herself out in Paul's lap and he puts her to bed after she falls asleep.
"Should I worry?" Paul asks Josh.
"Nope," Josh says. "Pretty soon she'll realize this is boring and all she'll want to do is go back to her friends at school."
*
It takes most of a month for Maisie to get used to preschool. It's a long month. Maisie cries at drop-off every day and clings to whichever one of them picks her up. She cries when Paul leaves on road trips and sticks close to him when he comes home.
Paul tries to keep things calm and not disrupt Maisie's routine, but he spends a lot more time while he's home sitting on the floor playing with her or reading to her while she sits on his lap.
He follows Josh's lead when he asks her questions about school, and that seems to help her get used to school being part of her life.
Maisie never quite gets to Josh's predicted preference for school over home, but she eventually settles in, and when he asks, Maria tells Paul that Maisie's making friends.
"See?" Josh says when Paul mentions it to him. "You were worried for nothing."
"I wasn't worried," Paul says. "Mildly concerned."
"Uh-huh," Josh says, like he wasn't also upset by having to live with Maisie being miserable for so long.
*
Paul wolf-whistles, quietly so he doesn't wake Maisie up, when Josh comes out of his room and into the living room.
Josh does a slow turn. "What do you think? I know you think you're a fashion expert."
"Nice," Paul says. "Hot date?"
Josh shrugs. "Maybe. We've been emailing."
"Dating in the modern era," Paul says with a shake of his head. "What ever happened to picking someone up in a bar?"
"There's an app for that." Josh heads for the door.
Paul cranes his head so he can see Josh from where he's sitting. "Hey, Josh." He waits for Josh to stop and turn back toward him. "Remember, no glove, no love."
Josh flips him off. "Don't wait up."
(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-31 07:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-04-01 06:40 pm (UTC)