That's Cold...

It was perhaps rather appropriate returning to an empty house and finding it as cold as a mid-winter bus stop. The tank had been run empty of oil multiple times and filled with a few gallons of diesel to squeak by while I couch surfed waiting for her departure. When I came home, she wanted to leave me nothing. Just an empty shell with a big price tag attached.
I had oil delivered. 150 gallons of oil hurts as much as a hard march through a long day without water. Looking at the dirty and empty house, I was parched.
Someone came to the store and told me that my chimney was spewing black smoke, giving me visions of a locomotive spewing smoke from track to horizon. Moments later my son called stating that the house is, "full of smoke". Like any other reasonable homeowner, I ran home looking rather unreasonable and I shut down the furnace. Then I called the repairmen. The furnace had angrily coughed soot all through the house and basement. And with $200, the furnace was fixed and cleaned. The house smelled of chimney and soot. The repairman calmly explained that this is what happens when you let it run dry multiple times.
"Welcome home", as they say.
It has been sad watching this woman implode, the reality of which is so analogous to how I found my 110 year old house one day after she moved out.
 Cold.
Expensive.
Spewing.
Damaged.
And something that "I" have to fix and take care of.
And when the court sentenced her to a one year of "No Contact" and Anger Management classes, it was reported that she said, "I'll get him"!
It's no wonder that I wake up when the night is at it's darkest and in a heart racing panic feel that I have somehow abandoned her.
You love me, you have always loved me, you will always love me.
Now that's cold.........................