Ok, I'm going to keep this as short as I can but I should warn you that this has the potential to be a long post!

I've been seeing a girl from work for the last 6 weeks or so. During that time I've found out that she's quite ill. Her mother died of breast cancer, her sister has just been battling it and she has the gene. She's undergoing an operation at the end of the year, which in her own words "will mean that she's not even a woman any more." Now I think she's assuming that I'm not going to want to know her after this operation and as a result she's been quite distant ... which has put a fair bit of strain on the relationship, to such a point that I don't know whether my assumption is correct or whether she's genuinely not that interested in the relationship. It's very hard to get her to open up and speak. The crunch came last week when we were invited over to drinks with a mutual friend. She couldn't make it anyway, but also mentioned that she wouldn't go because "people would think of us as bf and gf" which she didn't want.

Now, at the same time I've been meeting a group of people to watch the CL football on a regular basis: a few old friends and a couple of people that they work with ... one of which is a girl that I get on really well with. Anyway, last time we met up she hinted that however the football turns out, the two of us should go out for a drink alone at some point.

I kind of laughed it off a bit at the time, but I have to admit that I'm tempted to see how it would go. Especially as I'm not sure whether there is mutual 'interest' in the relationship I'm currently. However, if I'm right in my assumption that the girl I'm seeing at the moment is trying to protect herself because she's sure I'm not going to be interested once she undergoes surgey, then I'm going to feel crap leaving her ... however, as I say I don't know whether that is actually true and it's becoming hard to keep giving her benefit of the doubt.

I guess what I'm saying is, do you think I can at least go out for a drink or two with this second girl to see whether there's anything there?