U for Unable to forgive her: #atozchallenge Fiction

Today's story starter (at the beginning of the story in bold) comes from the super-helpful blogger friend Jocelyn Rish and the photo from Joseph. W. Richardson, an amazing writer and photographer I came across during this challenge.
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Unable to forgive her, he walked out to the lakeside, to watch a pale sun set amidst the bare branches of autumn.

They had bought this place beside the lake dreaming of weekends there, planning an extension when the children came, a boat to take them on rides and a short jetty where they would moor it after a long day out on the water.

He breathed in the chilled air, and the heaviness that is the curse of cold evenings settled upon his heart, slowing his limbs as he walked, filling him with a longing for a warm fire, mulled wine between his palms, her sigh upon his neck, reassuring, content.


He walked back to the log cabin, but instead of driving off after a final goodbye as he had intended, he found himself shoving open the door, and walking in. He switched on the lights and looked around---throughout her long illness, she had added touches here and there, in the bric-a-brac and paintings she had picked during their travels, their framed pictures in which their faces glowed with the conviction of happily ever after. Only she left before her time. Twenty-nine made no sense-- she should have waited to turn thirty. She should never have left. 

His eyes cloaked in mist, he dragged the bean bag near the fire place, turned it on, and settled back. As the warmth seeped into his blood, he inhaled her fragrance that lingered in the air. He closed his eyes and saw her as she was, smiling, full of life even when angry or sad. Maybe she had lived squeezed in more years in the ones she lived, after all.

He pushed himself up on his feet, walked across to the kitchen to make himself a drink, something warm to hold between his palms. He was going to stay the night.
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If you liked this story you might like some of the stories I wrote for my A to Z last year. 

Blogging from A to Z Challenge Reflections Posts of 2012 will start on Monday May 7th.  The Linky list will go up on that day so you can enter the link for that post on the list.

You can tell us what you thought were the highlights of your April Challenge, what you learned, what changes you might make next time, or what surprised you most.   Let us know about special bloggers you met in your A to Z journey or about a post or posts that especially moved or impressed you.  There are no limits as to what your Challenge experience might have been so tell us in your best way how you felt about the April A to Z Challenge of 2012.