He put up his hand to his mouth wincing between his fingers at Maxine's hope.
"Ehhhh, okay. Hear me out, young warrior," his hands were active again, spread out in a consoling way as he deftly stole a carrot stick from Maxine's place and casually ate it in two bites.
"This place you're in, and me, and Jo is really hard to find. And not just, a little off the star charts. We're talking other dimension stuff. Right Jo? You'd say?--anyway! Your dad is going to have to look through all the other dimensions out there. The...poodle dimension. The...everything's chartreuse dimension. Uh--the upside down dimension. The inside out dimension--that one's a little messy. Anyway, it's going to take a while. This is the toughest place to find in all the universe, but he's going to try to find you every moment. But it might not be right away. Even with everyone's help, there's so much out there, Maxine. It might take a really long time. And as nice as this restaurant is, it's gonna get a little old after the first few days of sleeping on the dining tables. Not that the cloth napkins aren't soft. And your dad probably wouldn't want you to have to do that."
He took a break to sip strawberry juice from his straw.
"So I advise a temporary living arrangement!" he said. "Just until he gets here. What about it?"