Sympathy seeking or not, she was still going to give her condolences. It was never easy to lose a mum. "Yeah? Why is that?" Call her curious. She wanted to know how Carl's mysterious father thought. It would help at any parent-teacher conferences.
Clara could imagine how that would go. 'Sorry, Mr. Grimes. But, you've got actual zombies back home? Also, your son is missing assignments.'
"It's alright." She gave him an encouraging smile. It wasn't alright that she lost her mum, but, it had happened a long time ago. She'd never be entirely over it. It was just now she had a life and brilliant and amazing things in it.
She grimaced. "I didn't mean to. It just sort of came out." Then her head tilted. "There's a show on the telly about your family?" Bloody hell.
Then she couldn't help but laugh at him. She reached over and took one. "Promise."