The thing that jumps out at me in your post, is his setting a date a month away. What are YOU going to do during this month of waiting? Conversations do get chaotic when a human is communicating with a duck!!! What I had to learn to do was not listen. You know the expression Listen don't Hear? I didn't do either. I would guage his emotions, but not succumb to it, because it made me nutty. Occasionally, I would paraphrase, just to test the waters, and even during paraphrase, my D-ABF would deny it - and I was paraphrasing for Pete's sake! Finally, I was simply comfortable reducing the "relationship" to professional/business. Not conversational. You've made a great move by getting out of the environment and into a place where you can clear your head and assess things from a proactive angle. If you don't want to go another round with him, begin putting your own life together minus the preoccupation with HIS CRAP. Have you tried no contact?