You were passive-aggressive, that's why she gulped. And you know you weren't just giving a thumbs up sign like you told her. It was more like a "thanks a lot for not telling me and telling the neighbor" I used to pretty passive aggressive out of frustration. I realize how I could have probably just been straight forward about what I was feeling and discussed it first.
You get it though. because when you did become straight forward in the conversation expressing your feelings, it lead to communication and it was great. You expressed you wanted to spend time together, and she let you know her reasoning was not a personal attack on you, and something she needed to do.
It ended well! Just try to skip the passive-aggressiveness when you can.
