“Hey, baby…listen to all that Spanish!” Solana gripped the phone tightly wishing she could grip onto the voice inside. Soon. Soon.

Huffing on his knuckles and rubbing them haughtily on his chest, Nick spouted his pride. “Hey, I’m a good student.”

“She’s a good teacher, too.” Winking at her daughter, Solana shooed her off to the family room so she could have a private conversation. She ached with want for him. This was almost the longest they’d been apart since he grouched his way into her life over a year and a half ago, no less since they’d finally stopped fighting their love for one another only months before.

“That she is…are you picking me up tomorrow or should I get a car?”

“You’re kidding, right? Miss Rosalie will not permit me to stand by in boring old Ruskin while you get a car. We’ll be there.”

“Oh, I was hoping you’d come because you wanted to…not because you wanted to avoid a conniption from the princess.”

“I’d be the one having it. Can you promise me something?”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t ever be gone this long again. I hated it.”

“I offered you plane tickets, Lani.”

“I can’t leave her…”

“You can. You just won’t.”

Sighing with great frustration at the impending disagreement, one they’d had more than once before, Lani changed the subject. “Did everything go okay on your last day?”

“Yeah, had a little cast party and all. Now I just wonder if this thing will ever see the light of day.”

“Look, did you have fun? Did you learn something?”

“Yes, and yes…I don’t think I’d mind doing more movies, although I definitely need some acting lessons. I think I suck and everyone was just trying to be polite.”

Remembering his stint on a few television shows in the previous months, she smiled and was grateful he wasn’t there to see her eyes also rolling to the back of her head. Tom Hanks he was not. But the love of her life? Yeah, that he was and right now, that’s all that mattered. “More experience will help, too.”

“I know. Felt kind of stupid, but…I’m out of my element. I need to see a recording studio again.”

“Yep…get back there and you’ll feel at home.”

“No…not really.”

“No?”

“Home is with you, Lani. Only with you.”

Now her smile was coated in warmth and comfort. The kind of smile that only appeared in his presence, or in the presence of thoughts of him. In the presence of home. “Then get your Zippy Gigglebuns home. I need to squeeze and make sure they’re still fresh.”

His chuckle was soft and they fell silent, secret words being shared between them, anxious thoughts of their union keeping their breath fast and their hearts racing. So, it was time to go with the generic. “How’s the weather been?”

“Mierda. Rain. Gray. Blah.”

“It’s raining shit? Ew. I’m not coming home then.”

“Smart ass. Just bring me some sunshine, okay?”

“Will do. Te extraño, Lani.”

“I miss you too, Nick…like mad.”

“Mañana.”

“Si, Nick. Mañana.”

Rosalie jumped down from the chair and tugged on Ben’s shirt hem, totally unable to stop moving, dancing, fidgeting, singing. Ben’s patience was waning.

“When’s he comin’, Ben? We been waitin’ forever!”

“I know, Rosalie…his flight was delayed a bit. He’ll be here soon.” He scooped up the imp and took her to the magazine rack, hoping to find something he could buy to keep her busy for a little while longer. It seemed Solana had disappeared and taken residence in the bathroom. What did women do in there that took so damned long?

“Where we goin’?”

“Over here. Let’s see if we can find a Nickelodeon magazine…Highlights. Something.”

“Ooh! They have Blues Clues in there?”

“I hope so…let’s see.” Ben started flipping through the orange-laden magazine praying to a god he barely knew for an animated blue dog and his retarded acting owner. Either that or a pretty Latino mother to unearth herself from the john. “Ah…looky here, Ro. Blue, Spongebob…let’s see…Rugrats, this has everything. Want it?”

“Si, Ben. I want it. I’ll be quiet now.”

He pulled out a wadded five dollar bill from his pocket and paid for the blessed entertainment, shaking his head at the little girl. She knew she was being a pain. Kind of made it hard to stay frustrated at her. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s go sit down and wait.”

As they got settled with their magazine and a pop for good measure, Solana strolled out of the bathroom with a wistful look on her face. “About time, woman…what’d you do? Flush yourself?”

Patting his leg and kissing her daughter’s head, Solana sat down, checking her watch and looking up toward the gates just in case the delay wasn’t as long as they’d been told. “Nope. It was quiet in there. I took full advantage of you. And I’m not sorry.”

“Oh fine. You owe me for this magazine then.”

She crooked her eyebrow up at him and lifted a finger to start counting off all the incidents of evil Ben had forced her to endure over the years.

“Okay, don’t even start. Never mind. Nick’s on me.”

“With any luck, he’ll be on me right soon.” She tried to mumble, but failed. This flight delay was playing with her common sense. Two months was bad enough. Two months and an hour and a half was inhumane.

Ben was busy dabbing the magazine dry from the pop he’d spewed at her bluntness. Rosalie was busy scolding. “What’s the matter, Ben? It taste bad? Lemme try.” She swiped the bottle from his hand and Ben just looked to Solana with his mouth hanging open.

She was oblivious.

And then, she was standing and grinning and before Ben knew what happened, she had disappeared into the small crowd that was streaming out of the gate area. He hoped she had the decency to wait until they were alone at home before she got “under” Nick. He’d never seen Miss Romero like this. He loved it.

The crowd split and Ben turned Rosalie’s attention back to the magazine to give them a moment alone. Fortunately, while Nicky was her #1 most of the time, when having to choose between him and Blue, well, the dog won.

“Lani, my god…I thought I’d never get here. Damned storms.”

“You and me both. Everything okay?”

He stopped in the middle of the walkway and dumped his bag at his feet, folding her in his arms, caring not who he might be blocking, who might see him, who might give a bloated report on the internet. His life was finally his own. His heart was where it belonged. Nothing outside of it mattered. She was warm and soft and smelled like…like Lani. Spicy cooking, ocean breeze, fruit scented shampoo and…whatever else it was that made Lani his girl. He laced his fingers through her thick chocolate waves finally stopping on either side of her face, pulling her up to him, meeting mouth to mouth, warmth to warmth, heartbeat to heartbeat.

He was home.

As they parted from their kiss, Nick kept his hands cupped around her face, having trouble taking his eyes from the hypnotic draw she had captured him in. A clap of thunder rattled the windows and jolted them out of their brief reverie.

“That reminds me, I have something for you.” Bending down to his bag, he unzipped it and gingerly pulled out a small bouquet of yellow daisies, still looking fresh and bright, a stark contrast to the gray carpeting and gray walls of the airport, the gray skies and gray rains darkening the view outside. “I brought you some sunshine.”

“Aw…yes, you did!” She took the blooms and sniffed, giggling because she knew daisies had little scent, but great color. A splash of sunshine in the weeks of rain and doldrums that had clouded her surroundings while he was gone. “Thank you.” With a sweet kiss to his cheek, she lowered from her tiptoes and picked up his bag. “Come on, Mr. Sunshine…someone’s been dancing to see you.”

By the time they got to Solana’s truck, Rosalie hadn’t left Nick’s arms or stopped talking. Ben had turned into a virtual bag boy, following steps behind, mumbling about the lack of appreciation for bringing people together, all the while smiling so brightly from the inside that he thought his heart was going to pop out of his shirt.

Miss Romero and Nick had only been “an item” over the summer thus far. Maybe it was because of the year that had preceded their union, or just the love that was impossible to ignore, but it shone brighter than anything Ben had seen in his life. Not that he’d seen a lot of real romantic love in his 14 years, but still…they were contagiously happy and he loved being around them. Even if it was just to carry luggage.

“Ben, you come sit up front with me, bud. I’ll catch up with the ladies later.”

Yeah, Nick had missed his girls. Of course. But he’d missed his buddy too. He wanted to hear how the end of summer went. How the beginning of 8th grade was going. If the house had sold yet or not, on and on and on. They talked little on the phone about such things, wanting to save them up for face to face time.

“Oh. Yeah. Sure…you driving?”

“Yep. Tighten up those seat belts…haven’t been behind the wheel for 2 months.”

“I tighten anyway, dude. You suck.”

Threatening to toss Ben in the back with the luggage, Nick finally pulled him into a hug, realizing they hadn’t even touched in the airport. “You been good?”

“I dunno, have you?” Ben gave Nick one more thump on the back and got into the truck, sticking his tongue out at Solana who was pretending to put on a good pout for getting relegated to the back seat. She needed some acting lessons too, it seemed. Dancing eyes didn’t work when you wanted to appear angry.

“I’m always good…ask Lani.”

“Um, no. I don’t wanna know…so, I have good news.”

Nick started the truck and maneuvered his way out of the parking garage, switching gears from spoiled celebrity to just good old Nick. The Nick he much preferred. “Hit me. I like good news.”

Ben punched him in the arm and made his announcement. One Miss Romero hadn’t even heard yet. “Well, the house finally sold. We’re moving in two weeks.”

Nick and Lani both let out a whoop of joy. It had been a long summer of showing the house, keeping it clean, constantly trying to fix up little things here and there and of course, finding a new place that would be big enough for their family. “And you have a house to move into too?”

“Yeah, it’s just a few streets away from Miss Romero…” Turning back to see her, he winked. “Lucky you.”

“Darned straight ‘lucky me’. I just got me 2 babysitters.”

“Is that all I am to you? Child care for your love fests?”

“HEY!” Rosalie might have been quiet, but it surely didn’t mean she wasn’t listening. To every stinking word. “You like babysitting me. I’m fun. You said so yourself.”

“Yes, Ro. You’re a blast. I was kidding.”

“Hrmph. Where’s my mazagine?” Rosalie wasn’t bi-lingual, she was tri-lingual. English, Spanish, and Rosish. It worked. Usually.

Nick pulled up to a stop light and looked to his passenger and then in his rearview mirror, smiling like a geek. Ben, of course, had to point it out.

“What dude? You look like you just saw Santa Claus.”

“Nothin’, Ben…it’s just nice to be home.”