Occasional phone calls where Mason mostly wanted to show me an invention through the screen and then abruptly ended the conversation when a more interesting idea occurred to him.

Sometimes things went wrong.

One afternoon I arrived with a board game that was too complicated for him, and he grew frustrated when I explained the rules.

I caught myself taking charge, speaking in the commanding tone I’d used at work.

Mason went quiet and pushed the box away.

Lauren didn’t intervene.

She gave me a chance to notice.

“I’m sorry,” I said.