Or the universe might shatter into a million pieces... she didn't say. Cassie knew how that would sound. She wasn't so arrogant as to believe it anyway; she was simply scared. Of herself and her feelings and her lack of control. She swallowed the thought and turned her gaze to Cissie's hand on her own.

"...Ask me again in a few days. I just want this trip...I don't want to mess things up when we're so close." Everything still seemed so fragile. The trip had helped with some things but others remained so tenuous or even broken. Cassie worried that pulling even one thread might unravel the whole. "I know there is...stuff...we've put off 'til after to deal with...we'll have plenty to talk about soon."

She took a breath and bumped Cissie's shoulder as she'd done earlier. It was the second time in little over a week Cassie had asked her friend to please give her time and she felt like a jerk to do it. But she was too mixed up to do anything else.