“Okay, Rosalie…time for bed.” Solana put Rosalie down, popping her gently on the behind.

“I’m not sleepy!” She turned from her mother’s loving touch and put her hands on her hips in sheer insolence.

“Yes, you are…come on. Let’s go potty and put a diaper on you…just in case.”

Climbing up on a kitchen chair, the little imp crossed her arms in front of her, setting the stage for a first rate stand off. “No. I’m not sleepy. I wanna play with Nick.”

“Rosalinda…it’s bedtime. We had a late night at the ball diamond, now come on. Don’t make me regret taking you.”

The pout continued as did the stand off. Nick wanted no part of it. He was too tired for two fighting “women”…even if one was under 4 ft. tall. “Maybe I should go. We’re all tired.”

“Hang on. We’re being manipulated.” Turning back to her daughter, Solana knelt to her daughter’s level to try for a compromise. “Would you like Nick to put you to bed?”

She had to think about that. “Yes. Nick tuck me in.”

“There we go…okay, try to potty and I’ll be in to get you ready.”

Rosalie hopped off the chair and ran down the hall to the bathroom, happy with the compromise.

Groaning as her knees popped when she stood, she looked at Nick, finally noticing the exhaustion seeping from his every pore. “I’m sorry, I should have asked first, huh?

“Nah, be glad to…but I’m not doin’ the diaper.”

“Chicken shit.”

“Yes, that’s me…potty training is not my bag.”

“Tell me about it. It’s not mine either. Her babysitter’s pushing it more than I’m ready…I’m too impatient.”

“I can’t even imagine.”

“You don’t want to. You end up talking, with all seriousness, about the stupidest things. ‘Listen, Mom! My farts echo in the toilet!’ It’s a miracle I’m not gray already.”

Nick didn’t know whether it was the brute honesty of the conversation or his complete exhaustion, but he couldn’t stop laughing once he’d started. Just the image of Solana sitting on the tub while Rosalie sat perched on the toilet, rating and announcing the sounds of her bodily functions…it was too much.

Poking him in the stomach and giggling at the story herself, Solana tried to pull the stern mother routine. “Yuck it up, laughing boy. Some day you’re going to be teaching a little boy how to pee on cheerios. Or piss against a building.”

“No one needs lessons on how to piss against a building. It’s a natural. You girls got the raw end of the deal with that one.”

“You got that right…now, if you’ll excuse me. I’m going to go wipe someone’s butt…you’re expected in her bedroom in 3 minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am. On my way. I gotta find a building to piss against first.”

Chuckling, she pointed to her bedroom. “My bathroom’s through there.”

“Do I get M&M’s if I go, Mom?”

“No, you get Rosalie smooches instead.”

“Eh, that’ll do I guess.”

“Okay, you ready, girl?” Nick walked in Rosalie’s room to find her with her nightie pulled up and tucked under her chin while she tried to investigate the character on her Pull-Up.

“Who’s on here, Nicky?”

“Um, let’s see.” He squatted down and tickled her tummy as he pulled her in closer. “That looks like Minnie Mouse to me.”

“Okay, I like Minnie.”

“So do I…you ready for bed?”

“Practice Spanish. En Español, por favor.”

“Español? Solamente? Rosalie…”

“Sí. Solamente.” She crawled up in bed, grabbing her stuffed horse and sitting under the blankets, waiting for some words of wisdom from Nick. In Spanish. Only. “Un examen?”

“A test? Oh God…okay.” Nick sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her legs as they talked.

“Bed.”

“Cama.”

She raised her eyebrows, amazed he remembered. They hadn’t practiced in awhile. “Pillow.”

“Almohada.”

“Bueno. Um, blanket.”

“Frazada.”

“Muy bueno!” Lifting up her stuffed horse to Nick’s nose, she asked nothing.

“Caballo. He tickles my nose.” He pushed the horse back, making it tickle her nose too.

“En Español, Nicky. Tickle.”

“Oh, uh. Man, Rosalie. I don’t know that one.” Seeing her glare because he forgot to use Spanish, he quickly tried to remember. His eyes sprung open and his finger raised for an ‘ah-ha’ as his memory kicked in. Thank goodness. “Yo no sé, Rosalie.”

“Cosquilleo.”

“Oooh, that’s a hard one to say. Cosquilleo. Lot’s of ‘y’ sounds.”

“Yep.” Nick lifted the blanket up and patted her legs, tucking the blankets under her chin as she obeyed his wordless direction. When she snuggled into her pillow, she gently kicked Nick’s bottom as she found just the right spot to lay. “Okay, some more. Princess.”

“Rosalinda.”

“Nick…no…Liz is princess.”

“Not you?”

“Well, yeah…but what’s the word? You not playing right.”

“You’re not going to sleep.”

“No. Princess.”

He sighed at her persistence, unable to hide his smile. She was definitely Solana’s child. “Princesa. And before you ask, castle is castillo. Did I pass?”

“Sí. Béseme, Nick.”

He looked down at her flirtatious eyes and smiled from the inside out. Had to be genetic. Mini Lani…made him crazy. And helped him forget all that was hanging over his head at the moment. “That’s kiss, right?”

“Yes…kiss me, Nick.”

Who could resist? He bent over her little body and kissed her cheek, brushing her curls from her face. “Duérmase, Rosalie. Go to sleep.”

When she felt him stand, she snuggled deeper into her bed and sighed. “Te amo, Nicky.”

He stopped at the door at her words. Words he had been feeling a lot lately, but hadn’t had the nerve to say to anyone. Maybe he could do it in Spanish. “Te amo, princesa Rosalie.”

Nick closed the door and was surprised to find Solana right outside waiting for him. “Oh…hey.”

“Was she good?”

“Yeah…testing my Spanish. Uh, ‘te amo’ is ‘I love you’, right?”

“Yep…did she say that to you?”

“Yeah, she did…kinda shocked me.”

“It shouldn’t. You’ve shown her nothing but love. She’d be a fool not to return it.” She handed him a bottle of water and started toward the front door. Exhausted. Frustrated. It defined them both. Might as well wallow in it together. “Come sit with me outside. I feel like hell.”

Once settled on the porch, she kicked off her shoes and hiked her feet up on the rail, heaving an exhausted sigh.

“You okay?”

“Eh, we’ve both had crappy days.”

“You just seem so tired. I’m not used to it in you.”

“I am. Trying to get that back-to-school shopping underway, and it’s not going well.”

“What is that anyway?”

“Well, we offer back-to-school shopping days for our kids with donated clothes from local churches and stuff. It’s mildly successful. But I’ve been trying to add school supplies to it. You’d think I was asking for the moon.”

“That’s a pretty cool idea. What’s holding it up?”

“Money.”

“You’re kidding. Where have you tried?” Immediately, Nick’s mind started ticking away at possibilities. This couldn’t be that complicated.

“Office supply places, catalogs and stores…see if they’ll donate. They won’t. Not enough anyway. Barry has a few corporate connections we’ve tried. Nothing. So, now I’m hitting the state, but I’m too late. We’re running out of time and I’m just frustrated.”

“How many kids use this?”

“For the clothes…maybe a hundred. I’d guess the supplies would be about the same. The school’s can’t afford to provide for them…not this district anyway, so we try to step in.”

“Yeah, it’s a poor one overall.” He looked across the street, weighing options in his head. Was his savior complex coming back? Probably, but hell…if he could help, why shouldn’t he? “How can I help?”

She looked to him, wanting to immediately say ‘no’, but when she saw the sincere look in his eye, she had to stop herself…with caution. “Nick, you have enough money stuff right now…”

“Look, if I put up half, there’s no reason some of these local businesses can’t match it.”

“You think they will?”

“Can’t hurt to try and they do that a lot. It’s a tax deduction, advertising and they don’t have to give quite as much.”

“Hmm…sounds promising…”

“I’ve got a few business connections too…see if I can cash in a few favors.”

Brightening up a bit at the prospect of this actually working, she remembered one more glitch in their plan. “You know what else we need? Advertising. We have no money for it.”

“Ben.”

“Ben?”

“Yep…have you seen that kid’s art work?”

“Not lately, no…he used to be good.”

“He’s incredible. Not just good at drawing, but at designing a page, you know…making it all interesting. He could make posters…we’ll get ‘em printed up and Bonnie and Clyde can help hang ‘em everywhere.”

She chuckled, imagining Steve and Ron toting guns, running from the law. “Which one’s Bonnie?”

“Steve…just because.”

“Aw, that’s mean.”

Nick looked at her like she had to be kidding. Mean? Where had she been the past few days? “Uh, you know, I’m out of polite with him. And I don’t say it to his face. Yet.”

“I guess he does deserve whatever you decide to dish out.” She took a huge drink of water, thinking it through, amazed he was so quick to pitch in. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

“Yeah…a few phone calls…I’ll just send ‘em to you if that’s okay.”

“Sure…absolutely.” She looked at him again and then focused her attention on her empty bottle swirling in circles as it dangled from her fingers. “You know I didn’t mention this to get your help, don’t you?”

“Yep. And Lani, you could have asked anyway.”

“No. I can’t take advantage of you like that.”

“That’s not taking advantage. It’s using your resources.”

“No, a resource is a thing. I don’t use people.”

“Lani, look. You’re not using me. I offered anyway. Just…take it, huh?”

She sat back and ran it all through her mind. This was always the hardest part of her work…raising monies on her own. It’d be so much easier if the state would provide enough money for what they needed. But they didn’t. Maybe he was right. Take advantage of the options out there. Truth of it was…he was an option. “I appreciate it, Nick.”

“No problem, and hey. Maybe after you have a successful program this year, the state will see it and help out next year.”

“That’s what usually happens. Just can never get something off the ground for them to check out, first.”

“Well, this time, you will. We’ll get you hooked up.”

“And who knows…maybe we’ll end up serving more kids than we have before now.”

“Yeah, and if Ben helps, this might just be that thing we were talking about.” He got up, needing to head home, wanting to stay. It was always conflict when he was with Solana. Right and wrong. Desire and respect. Peace and tension. But knowing he had to deal with the boys again tomorrow, and the next day…even the next, was enough to make him just want to go home and crawl in bed.

She stood with him and looked at him questioningly, not remembering, feeling too tired to try on her own. “I’m sorry…what were we talking about?”

He chuckled at her exhaustion. This whole thing had drained them both and she had to deal with her regular job on top of it. A good long vacation was in order, but sadly, far, far from possibility. “Something for him to be passionate about…to take ownership of.”

“Oh yeah, passion’s good.” She sleepily grabbed his water bottle and started in the house, totally unaware of her words and of his reaction to them. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow…I’m goin’ to bed.”

Nick shook his head at her exhaustion and smiled. He couldn’t believe how important she’d become to him in such a short time. He couldn’t be more grateful either. “Goodnight, Lani.”

“’Night, Nick…mañana.”

Mañana. How many mañanas, how many tomorrows would they have to wait? He was willing to wait…good things come to those who wait, don’t they? He just didn’t have to like it. But, to show his gratitude, he would. Somehow.