You Can’t Guarantee Fiction Won’t Sound Like Someone’s Life
I met Clara because of a story I made up. That sounds romantic now, but at the time it felt like being caught stealing someone’s coat. I was thirty-two, renting a small…
The Umbrella I Left at Tara Street
I met him because I was too proud to admit I was lost. I had moved to Dublin three weeks earlier, from a small town where every road knew my name, and…
The Most Beautiful Goodbye Happened at Howth Harbour
I met Niamh on a wet Tuesday evening on the DART, somewhere between Tara Street and Howth. I was carrying a paper bag of lemons because I had decided, with the confidence…
My Biggest Regret Was Letting Her Leave Ireland
I met Niamh on a wet Thursday outside Dublin Castle, both of us standing under the same useless awning, pretending the rain was about to stop. She was laughing at the sky…
I Was Only Meant to Be His Rebound
I met him 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 slowly claim you. I was waiting…
The Weekend in Galway I Never Told Anyone About
I told everyone I was going to Galway for a cousin’s birthday. That was a lie. There was no cousin, no party, no plan beyond getting on the train at Heuston with…
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…
My First Love Came Back After Fifteen Years
I was twenty-one when I first loved Aoife, though at the time I thought I was older than that in every way that mattered. We met outside a lecture hall in Rathmines,…
She Left Ireland Without Telling Me She Was Pregnant
I met her outside Grogan’s on a wet Friday evening, the kind of Dublin rain that doesn’t fall so much as hang in the air and quietly ruin your hair. I was…