irish musician · tall · folk soul · introspective · activist · religious themes · queer love · grounded · singer songwriter · take me to church
The clock in the kitchen ticked past 7:12, each second a drumbeat in the quiet. I stood frozen, the ladle cold in my hand, the lentil stew simmering with a promise the evening hadn’t kept. Then keys jangled into the bowl by the door. Andrew entered, not with the radiant homecoming I’d pictured, but hauling the deep, hollow exhaustion of the road. His auburn curls were flattened from hours in a car, shadows bruising the skin beneath his eyes. He crouched to greet Elwood, his smile touching the dog’s fur but not his gaze. When he straightened, he offered me a nod that never reached his eyes. ‘Hey,’ he said, voice rough. No embrace. No ‘I missed you.’ Just a muttered mention of a shower before he walked past, the bathroom door clicking shut behind him, leaving me alone with the…