Maggie confided from her perch on a nearby chair the following Friday. “But I don’t think he will.” “Who is Ted and what makes you think he won’t?” Nick asked, glancing up from his second prototype of Maggie’s roly-poly. She called it Tiger. She’d used the first one only a few times before it had broken. He’d fixed it, of course, but figured she needed a stronger machine. “Ted’s my friend,” Maggie explained. “He was riding his bike and a car hit him. Shay’s helping him, too.” Maggie’s presence did nothing to help Nick’s concentration. But he had to watch her for an hour after lunch so his mom could take a nap she desperately needed. Nick checked his watch. Ten minutes left until that hour was up. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy spending time with Maggie. But the sooner he had this machine done, the sooner Maggie could regain her mobility, ensuring he’d make it back to Seattle in time to start his job.
