the best advice i could give YOU is to trust your intuition. you know the people involved (you and them) better than anyone else, so you're in the best position to make the call. based upon how they act/react when you DO make contact, you should be able to judge whether they feel there's a problem between you two, or whether you feel it would be in your best interest to step back for awhile. you have a good heart, so don't hesitate to trust in your judgement. ask if you wish, wait if you like, but please please don't make yourself feel badly or uncomfortable.
for ME personally, i'll just give the benefit of the doubt most of the time and chalk it up to [E].
