Mary nodded and squeezed his hand again. "Sure," she said to him, and then draw him back over to the group. There she said, "guys, this a friend of mine, Nicholas. He's going to join us today." The people in the circle starting sharing their own names as Mary sat and patted the ground next to her for Nicholas.
Once the introductions were done, Mary looked over at one of the young men and asked if he wanted to continue something he'd been talking about earlier, about a sister in hospital.
Twenty minutes later the group began to disperse and Mary, having said goodbye to the last person and spoken for a short time on faith, turned to look at Nicholas. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" she assured him with a little smile. "Now, want to go get that coffee with me?"