“Como està, mi niña?” The smile in Nick’s voice couldn’t be hidden. As much as he had loved his latest adventure, he missed home now more than ever.

Why? Partially because of the little miss Rosalie who answered the phone. He missed her bouncing curls, her chocolate chunk eyes, her weight on his lap as he sat at his drum set with his arms around her and his hands covering her pudgy fingers as they “made música together”. And of course, her interminable Spanish lessons.

Thing was, the suckers were working. He felt almost fluent.

Hearing Rosalie’s sad sigh, he tuned in to her words, pushing back other memories to the side for the time being, like those of her mother’s curves in his arms. “Estoy okay.”

“Solo okay? Suenas triste...” She sounded worse than sad, she sounded downright forlorn.

“Si, Nicky. Te extraño!”

Hearing that she was sad because she missed him made his heart swell. And his impatience for his flight the next day grow stronger. “Me extrañas!? Bueno, te tengo buenas noticias!” At least it was good news for him. He needed his girls.

“Que?”

Giggling at the image of her hand on her hip as it swiveled out to make an impudent remark, he announced his news. “Mañana me voy a casa.” Yes, another mañana. This one meant coming home again.

“Mañana?”

“Si, tontita...Martes. Como te lo prometi.” They’d spoken off and on while he had been in LA this time…it was a long trip out there, and finally it had gone from 2 months, to 2 weeks, to one week and now, just as he’d promised, it was tomorrow. Mañana.

“Oh. Todavia estoy aprendiendo los dias.” This preschool stuff was great, but days and keeping it all straight, today, tomorrow, next week, yesterday, last month or her favorite, yester-night, well, it all got jumbled up in her almost four year old head.

And hell, he could understand her confusion. He screwed up days all the time. So, it was quiz time…even for him! “Que dia es hoy?”

“Um, hoy tuve escuela y Mami estuvo en casa ayer, es Lunes!” It was the only way she could keep it straight…what happened on what day. The school day after Mommy was home for two days had to be Monday.

“Bien.” Nick sat for a second trying to remember the word for ‘next’…wondering what suitcase he’d dumped his Spanish-English dictionary into. As he was about to give up and use English, it came to him. “Y el dia q sigue es...”

“Martes! El dìa de Nicky!!” Tuesday…Nicky’s day. The day she’d been waiting for for 2 long months now.

“Muy bien!! Rosalie mi dia...esta mami alli?” And it was Rosalie’s day for Nick. Well, Rosalie and Solana. Which signaled the end of his wait to talk to her. He needed to hear Lani’s voice again. Because the next time he’d hear it, it would be as he was looking into her eyes. Mañana.

“Si, esta aqui. Te amo, Nick.”

“Te amo, baby.”

“Mañana?”

Chuckling at her childish doubt, he answered most assuredly. “Mañana, Rosalie, mañana.”

Todos las mañanas. All of them. Together. Even physically apart, all of their tomorrows were together now. It could be no other way.