If he's that much older, he may be having male problems and be embarrassed to discuss them with you? I would work on "cuddling" and find non threatening ways to just make him feel good. My husband and I have a step thing When I stand on a single step, he and I are at exactly the right height for a wonderful hug so all he has to say is, "Assume the position!" or I will run and jump up on a step and he knows to come to me; it's a game of sorts, who will find "the" step and how fast the other will catch on.

My husband also has a bad, almost always painful foot he cut as a teenager and massaging it helps (a glass bottle severed micronerves in the arch and he almost didn't walk again) so we "trade" and I'll rub his foot if he'll read aloud to me or what a TV show of my choice (we don't have exactly the same tastes in shows).

Find some way to just touch him more often and be "friendly". My husband always thanks me for making dinner, no matter what I serve or how he liked it! Do something like that, thank him for some care/chore he does, whether balancing books/being a good provider or taking the trash out, etc. Get more physically comfortable with each other again and that might help with conversations. My husband and I are always talking and joking and trying to share bits of our day even though we're retired and usually sitting, each at our own computer, ten feet away