Lou, When you use endearments such as "love", the MLCer will think that you are still holding out hope that things will turn around and that you are still there for them. Endearments can be seen as pursuing. We don't always see endearments as pursuing, but to them...well...it says that we are still wanting them back and they can't have that. They don't want us to "love" them right now.
Under normal circumstances, yes, you would sign off as you normally would...but your situation isn't normal right now...is it? BTW, is he signing his missives using endearments? If he isn't...that's your first clue to keep things polite and civil, i.e., not using "mushy" endearments.
