The Girl Who Broke My Heart at Croke Park
I met her outside Croke Park on a wet Sunday in September, the kind of Dublin rain that doesn’t fall so much as settle on you and decide to stay. I was…
I Read My Husband’s Messages and Everything Changed
I never thought of myself as the kind of woman who would read her husband’s messages. I used to judge people who did. I’d say trust is trust, and once you go…
The Couple Everyone Envied Was Secretly Falling Apart
People used to say they wanted what we had. They said it at weddings, at house parties in Rathmines, over pints after work, always with that same little sigh, as if myself…
She Wanted a Family, I Wanted Freedom
I met Claire outside Grogan’s on a wet Thursday when the rain had made mirrors of the pavement and everyone in Dublin looked briefly more dramatic than they really were. She was…
The Most Passionate Kiss Happened Just Before Goodbye
I met Clara on a wet Thursday evening outside Trinity College Dublin, both of us pretending we were not lost. She was holding a broken umbrella like it had personally betrayed her,…
I Stayed Because the Sex Was Incredible
I used to think people only stayed in bad relationships because they were afraid of being alone, or because money was tangled up, or children, or mortgages. I didn’t have any of…
He Proposed to Me While Loving Someone Else
He proposed to me on a wet Friday evening in Dublin, under the trees in St Stephen’s Green, where the rain had made the paths shine like dark glass. I had been…
The Irish Holiday That Ended My Engagement
I used to think an engagement ended with one big betrayal, something loud enough for everyone to hear. Mine ended during a five-day holiday in Dublin, in the quiet space between a…
She Loved My Money More Than Me
I met her on a wet Thursday outside Whelan’s, the kind of night when Dublin looks like it has been varnished in rain. She was laughing under a broken umbrella, trying to…
The One Person I Should Never Have Fallen For
I knew I was in trouble the first time he made tea in our kitchen as if he lived there. It was a wet Thursday in Rathmines, the kind of evening when…