Fake it with me
He sat up and reached for his phone.
He had three unread messages. One from Noah, one from his mother about dinner on Sunday, and one from his father that he looked at for a moment before opening.
His father's messages followed a consistent pattern. They were short, specific, and outcome-focused. After wins they said things like *good game* or *saw the third quarter, strong showing.* After losses they said things like *your release timing was off in the second half* or *the team's conditioning looked weak in the final ten minutes.* They were not unkind. They were simply not about anything other than the result, and Mason had been reading them for long enough that he had stopped expecting the