Are the underscored part of the sentences natural?

A guy drops by his friend/colleague's place. The friend has been off work for a while.

Guy: Hi. It's been a while, so I thought I'd better stop by to see how you were doing.

Friend: You didn't have to.

Guy: No, but the guys at work keep asking me about you. So how's it going?

Friend: Better.

Is there anything you would change about the underscored parts of this dialog? Thank you.