"I know," she says, and while she smiles as she says it, for a moment it doesn't sit quite right on her face; feeling a little too awkward, maybe, or uncertain. "You'd never think less of me, not after...you know, David and everything. I do know that, I promise."

It doesn't feel right, almost, to be on the cusp of the conversation she thinks they're about to have. Not here, in this odd place of childhood fancy. Not that she's said much about it in Darrow, either. It had been easier not to, when she was still getting used to the idea, simpler to stick close to everyone involved, to the three people who understood. In a way--and it's a thought she dislikes, one she tries to push away as quickly as possible when it rises to the front of her mind--she's been the one keeping things a little secret and shadowed this time around.

No time like the present to change that, she thinks, and takes a breath. "Neil's going to be the one who...finds me, I'd imagine," she starts, "but it's Nick who'll be most upset. My, um. My new boyfriend."