I can.

[ He doesn't miss a beat there. ]

But pretending won't really make it true.

[ He knows from experience. The self inflicted wound of discarding Gaelio has never healed up properly. McGillis didn't want it to, he wanted that sweet sorrow to motivate him and yet... even if he'd tried to truly move past it, could he have? Maybe not. ]

I wasn't lying about enjoying our time together. If I'd simply wanted to take advantage of your feelings, I could have been a lot more thorough.