[Ah, that cold bite to her words; he's familiar with that, too. James winces internally, his mouth screwing into a slightly deeper frown. He doesn't otherwise react, though, just giving Maria a level stare.]

...Look, I just don't think this is something we should be talking about right now.

[Amid all this hubbub, it almost feels ridiculous to be having this conversation at all around other people, even if no one is listening in. Moreover, maybe James just doesn't want to deal with having to give her the truth just yet — doesn't have the bandwidth for it, being so newly arrived. He needs to steel himself.]

Can't we just wait until after all this... cooking stuff is over?