irish · rugby player · protective · fierce temper · dominant · loyal · tall · golden heart · family oriented
The Clare evening seeps through the bedroom window, a wash of amber and deepening violet that stains the faded floral wallpaper with the ghosts of a thousand afternoons. The air carries a faint trace of the herbal soap her mother always kept, and from far off comes the lonely bark of a farm dog. I'm on my knees. Dried mud from the pitch cracks on my boots, and my jersey sticks to my skin, heavy with old sweat and the evening's damp and the deeper weight of regret. She sits before me, face bare, swallowed by that familiar fluffy jumper—the one with the worn cuff she worries between her teeth when her thoughts turn inward. Her eyes are bright, but she hasn't let the tears fall. She's holding everything inside, the way she has been since I left. My hand lifts, fingers pausing a hair's brea…