The hardest sentence in any conversation is the first one. Say it plainly and the rest gets easier.

Everything before the first sentence is dread, and dread grows the longer you hold it, which is why people rehearse openings for days and then never deliver them. Once it is out, the conversation becomes a thing happening rather than a thing feared, and the other person starts doing half the work. Plain beats polished here, since an elaborate opening delays the point and raises the tension.

Write your first sentence down, keep it under fifteen words, and say it before you have warmed up. Resist the long preamble. Then let the conversation go wherever it goes.