The Man I Couldn’t Stop Thinking About After One Kiss
I met him on a Thursday night in Dublin, which already made it feel like the sort of thing that should not have mattered. Thursdays are for quick pints, last Luases, and…
I Stayed in a Toxic Relationship Because I Was Afraid to Start Again
I used to tell people we were “just intense.” That was the word I chose because it sounded romantic and grown-up, the kind of thing you might say about a couple who…
The Girl Who Always Chose Someone Else
I met Aoife on a Tuesday evening in Dublin, the kind of evening where the rain hangs in the air without ever properly falling. We were both sheltering under the same narrow…
She Loved Me Until I Told Her the Truth
I met Niamh on a wet Thursday outside a little café in Stoneybatter, both of us pretending the rain wasn’t bothering us. She had a paper bag of pastries under her coat…
My First Love Came Back After Fifteen Years
I was buying a bunch of tulips outside Dublin city centre on a wet Thursday when I heard my name spoken the way it used to be, like it had two extra…
The Divorce That Finally Set Us Free
People always imagine divorce as a door slamming. In our case, it was more like a window opening in a room we had both been sitting in for too long, pretending we…
I Couldn’t Forget the Woman I Met at Forty Foot
I met her on a January morning at the Forty Foot, the kind of morning when the sea looks less like water and more like a dare. I had gone there because…
We Were Lovers Every Summer in Dingle
I met Eoin on a wet July evening in Dingle when I was twenty-one and pretending I was only there for the work. I had taken a summer job washing glasses in…
The Secret Relationship Hidden From an Entire Irish Village
I grew up in a village so small that if you bought cough sweets in the shop, three people would ask your mother if you were coming down with something before you…
He Loved Me Until I Said Yes
I met him on a wet Thursday outside The Cobblestone in Smithfield, both of us standing under the same narrow strip of shelter, pretending the rain was not coming in sideways. He…