The words stuck a chord with him, as he suddenly remembered his earlier thoughts. It wasn't like he was actually going to-- but the more he thought about it, the less certain he was. <All right,> he said finally. <That's reasonable. Just...>

Just what? The fact was that Jake wasn't at all sure if he should do this. If he could. He wanted to say, never mind, I'm not coming, just don't leave him alone. But he couldn't hide from this forever. <Okay, I'm leaving Cassie's house now. I'll be there soon.>