The One Person I Never Stopped Missing
I met Niamh on a wet Thursday outside Whelan’s, the kind of Dublin rain that doesn’t fall so much as hang in the air and make everyone look a little heartbroken. I…
She Loved Me but Couldn’t Forgive Me
I met Aoife on a wet Thursday outside the Gaiety Theatre, both of us pretending we were not stranded under the same narrow awning. She had a paper bag of chips from…
The Love Triangle That Destroyed Christmas
I used to think Christmas could survive anything if the table was full enough and the lights were warm enough. That year, Mam had the good napkins out in our house in…
He Chose His Career Over Our Love
I met Cian on a wet Thursday evening outside the Abbey Theatre, both of us pretending we hadn’t forgotten our umbrellas. He offered me half of his newspaper to hold over my…
We Pretended to Be Friends After Everything
For three months after Conor moved out, we kept saying we were fine. Not together, obviously, but fine. Mature. The sort of people who could meet for a pint in Dublin and…
I Found My Husband’s Dating Profile by Accident
I found it on a wet Tuesday evening in Rathmines, the kind of evening when the rain seems to come sideways and everyone on the bus looks personally betrayed by the weather.…
The Marriage That Ended Over One Secret
I used to think a marriage ended in one loud moment, with a slammed door or a suitcase thrown open on the bed. Ours ended quietly, on a wet Thursday evening in…
I Thought Lust Was Love Until It Was Too Late
I met him on a wet Thursday evening on Camden Street, the kind of rain that makes everyone look briefly honest. I had gone into a pub near Whelan’s with two girls…
The Last Hug Before She Moved to Australia
The last night before Aoife moved to Australia, we sat on the low wall outside St Stephen’s Green with a bag of chips between us and said almost nothing useful. We had…
The Girl I Met During a Storm in Donegal
I met her because the bus never came. That is the simplest way to tell it, though it leaves out the rain hammering sideways across Donegal, the way the sky had turned…