AH, I didn't mean to pick on you, that was not my intent.
Instead I felt like I was confirming what I thought you suspected.
As I said, it is very hard to read these things sometimes and understand the whole context and intent.
But you asked, Why is it so important to me to understand exchanges like this? and you admitted, "He is actually tring to communicate honestly with me and is just plain not so good at it. Neither am I, as revealed by this exchange."
I felt like I was confirming what you were already seeing and trying to explain it in a way that would get you off the floor.
I was hoping to try to convey that you all are stuck right now in this endless cycle of not being able to communicate with each other and so I think the best thing to do is stop. If it's not working, quit doing it.
You may have been pleased with what he said, that may have given you reassurance, but you didn't say that to him, you just kept talking (again, if we are to rely on what you reported here) about how what he had said made you feel, made you suspect, hurt you...
Anyway, it just was a very striking exchange to me, and I felt like I saw some things in it that were worth telling you about.
