“I’m burning the tomatoes!” Clare stood up abruptly, knowing that she needed to end this conversation right now. She whipped the tomatoes out of the oven, and fried bacon until the edges turned crispy.

“Thank you for telling me a little about her.”

“Jack hasn’t done that?”

“No. I think he finds it difficult. If he wanted to talk about her, he’d talk about her.”

Not necessarily, Clare thought. Sometimes men thought that the best way to handle a difficult topic was to ignore it. But who was she to think that was wrong? She knew she tended to chew on things until they were pulp. “Is your aunt still alive?”

“No. She developed dementia a few years ago. She managed to stay at home until the last year.”

“Who cared for her?”

“I did. It was the least I could do. She gave me everything.”

Except love, Clare thought. And now she saw it so clearly. Flora yearned for family. To belong. “And now? You live in the same house?”

“No. Her house was sold to pay for her care. I moved into an apartment. But last month the roof leaked and I had to move out. Jack invited me to stay with him.”

“You’re living with him?” Interesting. Why hadn’t Jack mentioned that?

“Not living with him exactly. It’s a temporary thing until I can find somewhere else. And I’m in the spare room.”

Thinking of her morning with Todd, Clare sent her a womanly smile. “That must be frustrating.”

Flora blushed. “I don’t want to unsettle the girls, or hurt them in any way. Their needs have to take priority.”

Did they?

Clare wondered if she would have been so restrained in the circumstances. “What about you and what you need?”

Flora had inadvertently given her a gift by stripping away all the anger Clare had felt toward Becca. Maybe she could repay the favor.

She carried on talking. “As women we often feel we have to put our needs bottom of the pile. But why are we less important than others? I love my son, and that love isn’t diminished when Todd and I prioritize our relationship.” She thought about the tangle of sheets upstairs in her bedroom. Had she left her underwear on the floor?

“You two are lucky.”