Originally Posted by bluecastle
I don't think either of them were particularly invested.
My feeling with OP is that, being new to dating after a divorce, she is still slightly more invested in the experiment of connecting than actually connecting. Perhaps even the experiment of seeing if an iffy connection can be "worked on" to evolve into a solid connection, which is a pretty common mindset of the newly single, since their most recent version of romance was likely trying to will a connection that was nosediving back into the clouds.
Hence the bountiful hunt for red flags plus his own wanton toss of a red flag into the mix led her not to lose interest but to become interested in seeing if it could be talked out, a "rough patch" to smooth over. That dude struck her a doofus meant the odds of it going anywhere were slim to none, and in that there was "safety," the comfort to experiment, to "get back out there," as the old saying goes, without really being out there and invested.
My few cents at least.