on good terms - [our silver lining]
emerging friends - [tentative bonds]
hesitating - [what getting too close may bring]
worthy of study - [take you apart to find how you work]
surface - [easy to mistake for sincerity]


LONGER REPLY LATER BECAUSE I DO OWE YOU ONE but that is a little off by itself; he both likes and enjoys her company and is . . . very content to keep that on the surface level, because he doesn't precisely trust her.