I recently became friends with one of my colleagues and I am taking it slow...perhaps too slow. She approached me, rather than me approaching her.

I wonder if she thinks I'm cold and distant, but it's nothing personal against her.

I agreed with my counselor last session that I need to take time to get to know people.

The thing that made me uncomfortable last time I had lunch with my new friend was that she started to confide in me about her problems and the situation she described is strikingly similar to the fraudulent sob story of my female relative.

But I have a gut feeling my new friend is telling the truth.

But I still want to take it slow because of my past experience/ foolishness of falling for someone else's fake sob story.

What are some signs that someone's story is legitimate? Can you give examples?