[She's well aware how vain a hope it would be to pretend he'd be able to guess at how big a change it really was, so she doesn't even try to fool herself. Keeping a smile on her face is done for his sake, but that smile grows sad and even a little surprised as he asks that particular question. That's a pretty good indication of how early a time he comes from. Perhaps the hope that he might be a little further along was a silly one, too.]
... He does. [It can't hurt to ask, indeed. Fortunately(?) for him, she knows a lot more than anyone would expect. It's a hard thing to say, but she knows it needs to be said.] Because... for him, it's probably been... a little more than a year.
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... He does. [It can't hurt to ask, indeed. Fortunately(?) for him, she knows a lot more than anyone would expect. It's a hard thing to say, but she knows it needs to be said.] Because... for him, it's probably been... a little more than a year.