Hemingway didn't want to let go of her again, he just wanted to hold on to her forever in case she disappeared again. What was going on? That would take a hell of a long time to explain. Instead, he just gave her a sort of exasperated look, although he did manage a soft chuckle at her prodding. Charlie poked at him as well, indicating that the word had definitely come from him.
"It's been... a crazy couple of weeks," he admitted in lieu of a proper explanation. "It was all dark," Charlie added for him, as if helping him with the story.