Her smile warms a bit, in that kind, it's-all-right way some people have when presented with someone a bit uncomfortable or awkward. "You don't have to apologize for anything, Tom," she insists as she takes the offered seat, "but I would never turn down a cup of coffee or a bit of company." Deftly handled, neither assigning blame nor turning down a kind offer. She's gotten good at maneuvering around things that might offend a perfect stranger--it kind of comes with the must-tell-you-my-prophetic-vision territory, sometimes.

"I'm just glad to have this back, if this is what the gods have decided I needed to have. Thank you for posting it to the network."