Yeah. As much as Sam might preach outcome independence and other memery that's perfectly good in vitro, he was shook Fred wasn't swayed by the gesture of his attempt. Because the gesture is meaningful. The two have had an equal amount of time apart to process the state of their shit, and in a father/son situation, they have ties that are deep and should go above all other considerations, so there's an expectation in making the move that the other party has processed it with the exact same considerations and in their mind is pretty much at the same point, primed to get beyond the shit.
So a reconnect attempt, not front- or backloaded with any other text, to the point and man to man, should have no other response but a yes in most all cases. To respond with anything but undermines Fred's image in his eyes fundamentally. Brings into question does he relate to him as a father with fatherly considerations. And brings back into the situation alphadogging nonsense that for that moment was absent - in their standstill, Sam "blinked" first, so there's now regret over that.