The pause before she answered said a lot, he thought. Oh, Jo.

She was right, of course. He couldn't go anywhere. The timing was all wrong, and he had too many other things he was juggling at the moment. He certainly couldn't go anywhere now, when he still had the meeting with Mr. Fudge scheduled for next week; it would look bad to cancel, like he wasn't going to be reliable, and it might get the tentative job offer rescinded. And the rest of the month had plenty to keep him busy, and then hopefully in April he might be able to work his way around to actually asking, and then he'd have this new thing at the Sanditon to keep him busy starting in May. The timing was all wrong, but that didn't mean he didn't want to go with her. They'd already talked about leaving together on a few occasions, but seeing her so frantic and so ungrounded made him want to stay with her all the more. But wanting wouldn't do her much good, would it? She needed more than just his good intentions and his empty words.

He shrugged and shot her a half-apologetic smile. "Well, I mean... nothing's official yet." Which was true, but it didn't do her any good. "Where are you going to go?"