It is rather close to dire. He's taking on jobs he'd normally turn down, otherwise. Jobs that don't pay nearly as well as they should to try and make ends meet. The thought had even crossed his mind that maybe he should take up a day job, like. Waiting tables, before he quickly talked himself out of that one. But she doesn't need to know about that.

His eyebrows raise slightly at her final words there, but he gets the feeling that however oddly phrased it is, she means it, in her own way. At least, he hopes that she does. He's just going to keep on believing it anyway. "Yeah, thanks." He raises his coffee to her in something of a salute. "I've got a seat at a bar with my name on it this evening, I think. If drinking doesn't help, maybe ending up in a pub brawl will."

"See you around then," he says, not quite meaning it but feeling in some odd way as though he might be running into her again anyway. The world works in mysterious ways, after all...