Silence after a fight isn’t always cold. Sometimes it’s the time it takes to stop talking angry.

A gap in the conversation can be the most useful part of it. Carrying on while you are both still angry means saying things that later need undoing, and the pause is often somebody working out what they actually think rather than punishing you. The difference is whether it ends. Quiet with a return in it is repair; quiet used as a weapon is something else.

If you need an hour, say that you need an hour and that you are coming back. Then come back, and check in once rather than ten times.