The question you are embarrassed to ask may be the one preventing an honest start.

At the start of anything there is usually one question you would rather not say out loud: what this will really cost, whether you are actually wanted here, what happens if it does not work. Leaving it unasked does not make it go away. It just means everything built afterward rests on a guess.

Ask the awkward one first, in the plainest words you have, before the momentum makes it harder. A slightly uncomfortable beginning is cheaper than a confident misunderstanding.