She had wished he'd been there, but it was a hard time for them and she gets it. Besides, it's the past now. Moving forward and this is a nice way to do that even if it is nodding to the past. She does skip the part where she says there's always next year since that's a tricky sort of subject. It would also mean another year of failing to get out.]
Eat with me? They haven't brought my food yet, so we'll be basically on the same page.