Crosswalks and Crayons

A Cork morning is its own kind of weather—rain on the zebra crossing, small hands gripping backpacks, and a town that runs on routine, humour, and the quiet bravery of getting everyone safely to the other side.
Mairéad Keegan is the art teacher who arrives early with spare socks, warm cocoa, and a plan for every small crisis. Declan Ward is the lollipop man who holds the road like a promise—steady, polite, and quietly wrecked by the life he’s carried since losing his wife. When the school crossing turns dangerous and the council keeps “considering” fixes, Mairéad and Declan do what competent people always do: they solve it themselves.
Together they launch Walk & Draw Wednesdays—part safety mission, part community movement—turning chalk arrows and children’s posters into a town-wide reset. But as the mornings get safer, something else starts to shift: the way Mairéad’s careful heart reaches for steadiness, and the way Declan begins to believe that grief doesn’t get the final say.
This is a warm, funny, deeply tender Irish romance about second chances that happen in real time—kid-first, consent-forward, and built on the kind of love that shows up with clipboards, biscuits, and both hands free to hold what matters.