‘I’m sorry - I’ll be out of here in a second.’

He picked himself off the floor. He could feel the contents of his nose running down his throat and his face. It hurt to open his swollen eyes. He focused on the figure in front of him and through the haze of his tears he could make out the black tram lines on her pale cheeks.

‘Bernadette?’

He could see her face now flashing in the light. It was full of steely determination.

‘I came back Cormac to finish this properly once and for all.’

He felt his eyes betray him and knew his stomach would follow.

‘Too much time has passed, Cormac. I don’t think I can go back there. I don’t think my heart can take the pain when you leave me again. You see, I would have given my life to you. I did give my life to you for a long time, even after you had gone. I don’t think I can take the pain. So I came back to ask you not to bother me anymore. Goodbye, Cormac.’

He looked down at her outstretched hand and watched his own as it touched hers. She began to walk away from him. He felt his chest pounding and his legs buckle.

‘Wait, Bernadette! Wait with me just for a little while.’

She turned to look at him and waited for him to speak. He tried to say something, but his mouth couldn’t find the words. She started to walk away again. Then he let his heart talk to her instead.

‘I’ve been running away all my life. I’ve been desperately searching for happiness. I’ve been trying to find somewhere I can call my home. When I think of the last time I wasn’t running, that I was truly happy, that I was home, it was when I was in my bedroom in Killane. You were lying beside me. It was your 18^th birthday.’

His eyes began to sting again. She stopped walking. He continued talking.

‘We weren’t speaking, we were just lying there. There was music playing. I didn’t know it at the time but I do now - I was the luckiest man in the world that day, Bernadette, because I had your love. I know I lost it. I know I hurt you too much, but I hurt myself more. Through my own stupidity, I lost your love. I’ve been trying to replace it for twenty-two years. I know now I cannot. I just want you to know before you go I will be sorry for the rest of my life. I want you to know whatever happens in your life, even if we never meet again, I have always loved you, even when I left you behind, and I always will love you, even when you leave me behind tonight.’

The contents of his nose were now pouring down his face, and he could no longer see her. He didn’t see her wipe her face and take her first step towards him. He only knew she was there when he felt her gentle hand brush his cheek. She spoke through her tears and into his chest.