We've been here long enough, though. [A soft, ironic laugh.] You'd think I'd be used to it by now.

[He idly pats some sand off his shorts before glancing her way again.] I can't believe it's already been a year since my last birthday. Everything was different then. Really different. And... and that means in just a few months, it'll also be a year since—

[The words had kind of been blurted out there; he hadn't really intended on spilling his guts to anyone. Not tonight. For precisely that reason— he's not really sure where he'd find an ending point. Trailing off there, Hope scuffles a toe into the sand at his feet, chewing his bottom lip around the edges of a frown.]