Two Years and Four Months Ago

Two Years and Four Months Ago is a retrospective time marker for a scene that brings Hannah Hall and Owen Michaels together in Hannah’s workshop. After a theater outing described as their “non-date,” Owen asks to learn how she works with wood; the recollection also gives his love for his daughter, Bailey Michaels, its clearest expression. The flashback ends before the narration returns to a present in which Hannah and Bailey are sitting on a plane, making the remembered intimacy stand against the fear and uncertainty of their journey.

The Workshop and the Non-Date

The recollection opens with Owen asking Hannah to show him how to use a lathe. They have just left the theater, and he asks to come back to her workshop, insisting that he wants to learn rather than pursue “funny business.” His request gives their outing a second setting: away from the theater, he is interested in Hannah’s work and in how she does it.

Hannah begins with the choice of material. She tells him that everything starts with selecting a good piece of wood, because a poor choice leaves nowhere good to go. The instruction is practical, rooted in her craft, while the scene’s closeness remains tentative: their evening is a “non-date,” but Owen has chosen to follow Hannah into a place that matters to her.

Owen’s Devotion to Bailey

In the same retrospective passage, Hannah asks Owen a question and reminds him that she asked first. He smiles and answers without hesitation: “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for my daughter.” The immediacy of the reply makes his devotion to Bailey more than a general sentiment; it is a certainty he states plainly, even in a scene centered on his growing connection with Hannah.

That declaration gives the time marker a relational significance. Owen’s interest in Hannah’s craft and his willingness to learn bring him closer to her, but his answer also identifies the commitment that defines him as a father. The remembered scene holds both attachments together rather than presenting intimacy with Hannah as separate from responsibility to Bailey.

Retrospective Placement

The heading places the workshop scene two years and four months before the later airport passage. After the memory, the narration returns to Hannah and Bailey on the tarmac, waiting for their plane to take off. Bailey looks exhausted and frightened, and Hannah acknowledges that she has not told her everything, though Bailey understands enough to be scared. The contrast gives the flashback its force: a quiet evening of instruction and unhesitating affection is recalled from a moment when Hannah and Bailey face fear and incomplete knowledge.