She Read My Diary and Left Forever
I kept the diary in the bottom drawer of a small desk I bought second-hand in Rathmines. It was nothing fancy, just a navy notebook with a cracked spine and tea stains…
I Loved Someone Who Never Even Knew My Name
I first saw him on a wet Tuesday morning outside Dublin Connolly, standing under the station clock with a paper cup of coffee and a book held open against the rain. Everyone…
The Night We Chose Each Other Instead of Our Partners
I met him on a wet Thursday in Dublin, the kind of evening where the city looks like it has been varnished. We were both at a leaving do in Whelan’s, standing…
He Never Stopped Loving His First Love
My father was not a sentimental man in public. He was the sort of Dublin man who would call an ambulance “a bit of fuss” and a birthday card “grand altogether” if…
The Secret Affair That Lasted Longer Than My Marriage
I met him on a wet Tuesday in Dublin, the kind of evening when the buses sigh at the kerb and everyone looks like they are carrying a small private defeat. I…
I Couldn’t Tell My Family Who I Really Loved
I grew up in a house in Crumlin where everyone knew everyone’s business, except the one thing that mattered most about me. My mother could tell from the sound of my key…
The Love Story That Ended With a DNA Test
I met Ciarán outside Whelan’s on a wet Thursday night, the kind of Dublin rain that doesn’t fall so much as hang in the air and wait for you to walk into…
She Left Me for Someone Twenty Years Older
I used to think the worst thing that could happen in love was betrayal. Then it happened to me, and I learned the worst part was not the betrayal itself, but the…
The Couple Who Stayed Together Only for the Children
For years, if anyone asked why myself and Niall were still together, I would say, “Because we’re a family.” It sounded noble when I said it. It sounded like sacrifice, like maturity,…
My Neighbour Became My Greatest Temptation
I moved into a small flat in Stoneybatter the winter after my engagement ended. I told everyone I wanted quiet, but really I wanted to disappear. The place was above a bakery,…