But it would have been too easy to relay his excuses and make it sound as though I understood them.

“You get to decide when you’re ready to talk,” I said instead.

“You don’t owe him an immediate answer.”

After the call, I found Mason building a block house on the living room rug.

The roof kept slipping because one side was higher than the other.

He tried again, adding another block to balance it.

“You have to make both sides strong,” he explained.

I sat on the sofa and watched him work.