Our Marriage Ended Long Before the Divorce Papers Arrived
I used to think a marriage ended in a solicitor’s office, with signatures and a woman in a grey suit sliding tissues across the table. Ours ended on a wet Tuesday evening…
The Night We Promised Never to Meet Again
I met Aoife outside Grafton Street on a wet Thursday evening, the kind of Dublin rain that doesn’t fall so much as wait for you in the air. We had already broken…
I Loved Him for Seven Years Without Saying a Word
I met him on a wet Tuesday outside Trinity College Dublin, both of us standing under the same too-small bus shelter, pretending the rain wasn’t coming sideways. He offered me half his…
The Woman Who Left Before I Learned Her Last Name
I met her on a wet Thursday evening outside Connolly Station, the kind of Dublin rain that does not fall so much as lean into you. I was standing under the awning…
The Umbrella I Returned Twice
I met him because I was too stubborn to buy a new umbrella. It was one of those Dublin evenings when the rain seemed to come from every direction at once, blowing…
The Love I Learned Not to Name
I used to believe love only became real when other people could see it. A photograph on Grafton Street, a hand held across a pub table, a caption with a joke only…
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. The Queue
I met him in a queue, which feels like a very Dublin way to begin anything important. It was outside Bewley’s on Grafton Street, one of those wet December afternoons when the…
The Evening I Learned to Stay
I met Niamh on a wet Thursday outside Connolly Station, both of us pretending the rain was manageable. I had one broken umbrella and she had none at all. She was laughing…
The Umbrella I Forgot to Return
I met him because of rain, which is a very Dublin thing to say and also the plain truth. I was standing outside Pearse Station after a late shift, pretending my light…
The Best Approach Is to Tell the Small Truth
I met Eoin because I was pretending to be braver than I was. It was a wet Thursday evening in Dublin, the kind where the rain doesn’t fall so much as hover…