A word for when somebody deflects from a conversation?

I'm looking for a word to fill in this blank.

"I'm certain of it: the square root of 225 is 25," said Peter. But when Mary pulled out her phone and used the calculator app to find that it was in fact 15, Peter recoiled. In a quick ___, he redirected, adding, "But you know, this reminds me of a funny story involving Euler..."

The word I'm looking for would mean a deflection from a conversational faux pas by redirecting the conversation. It could describe making an excuse for one's flub, but not necessarily. I've thought of some related verbs like redirect, deflect, rebound, recover, and so on, but I'm looking for a noun, and one that pertains particularly to talking. Tangent (as in, "going off on a tangent") is relevant, though that doesn't have the connotation of recovering for a mistake.

I really feel like at some point, the French must have invented a word for this, and then we stole it. Alternatively, a word for a deflection from a generally uncomfortable conversation would also work.

Solution 1:

You could say that

In a quick side step, he redirected [the conversation].

Also often spelled sidestep.

A motion, physical or metaphorical, to avoid or dodge something.

This describes a physical dodging motion to the side rather than forward, but it can also be used as a metaphorical action to avoid a topic in a conversation.

The verb form is sidestep.

Solution 2:

Change of subject would fill in the blank in a natural, American-English way. I don't know of a single word that would do it without sounding contrived.

In conversation if someone tries to redirect the conversation to avoid some topic, and the other party catches on, it is often called out with "Don't change the subject"

Change the subject — Dictionary.com

Deliberately talk about another topic, as in If someone asks you an embarrassing question, just change the subject. This term uses subject in the sense of “a topic of conversation,” a usage dating from the late 1500s.

Solution 3:

You might call this an evasion:

the action of evading something.

"their adroit evasion of almost all questions"

synonyms: avoidance, elusion, circumvention, dodging, sidestepping

"the evasion of immigration control"

an indirect answer; a prevaricating excuse.

plural noun: evasions

"the protestations and evasions of a witness"

synonyms: prevarication, evasiveness, beating around the bush, hedging, pussyfooting, hemming and hawing, equivocation, vagueness, temporization; rare tergiversation

"she grew tired of all the evasion"

Similarly, you could say the person is being evasive:

tending to avoid commitment or self-revelation, especially by responding only indirectly.

"she was evasive about her phone number"

synonyms: equivocal, prevaricating, elusive, ambiguous, noncommittal, vague, inexplicit, unclear; roundabout, indirect; informal cagey, shifty, slippery

"the judge was infuriated by the defendant's evasive answers"

directed toward avoidance or escape.

"they decided to take evasive action"

synonyms: equivocal, prevaricating, elusive, ambiguous, noncommittal, vague, inexplicit, unclear; roundabout, indirect; informal cagey, shifty, slippery

"the judge was infuriated by the defendant's evasive answers"