The silence doesn't bother her. It gives her time to collect her thoughts, which are both scattered and painful. It makes answering the question easier. She doesn't want to cry in front of him, and she doubts he wants her crying either. Crying people are no fun.

"He's wonderful. He's kind and clever. He used to tell me the most wonderful stories, about growing up in Asgard and the pranks he'd play on his brother, or the dwarves, or... whoever caught his eye. He was a great cook." This is pretty much her favorite subject ever, so. Feel free to draw the same wrong conclusion everyone else does. She's not as good at hiding how crazy she is about the boy as she thinks.

"He was... like spring after a lifetime of winter." See? Poetry.