“Because he wants the best for you, and sees college as the best. He doesn’t want to hold you back. But I can see how the things he said could be misinterpreted.”

“Can you?” Izzy turned her head. “Really?”

“Yes.” If Jack had been there at that moment, Flora would have pushed him in the lake. “Believe it or not he is thinking of you. He is so aware of everything you’ve sacrificed this year to keep things going at home. You hardly see your friends. You’ve cooked and cleaned and cared for your sister. He wants you to have a life of your own.”

“I just thought—” Izzy shifted her gaze back to the lake and stared into the distance “—that he’d had enough of me. He was basically saying that the family would manage just fine without me in it.”

Flora scrambled to her feet, too. “How can you think that, or say that? You’re his daughter. He loves you so much. Nothing that happens is ever going to change that.” She reached out but was shrugged away.

“Are you hungry? I’ve got food in my backpack. I’ll fetch it.”

She sprinted off so fast, Flora was left wondering if she’d said the wrong thing.

She seemed to constantly say the wrong thing. Family life should come with a manual, in the meantime she did what she could to figure it out.

Jack wasn’t that great at communicating with Izzy that was true, and he could definitely be accused of being clumsy, but she’d never seen anything that might lead Izzy to think he didn’t love her.

How had that thought formed in Izzy’s head? She was sure Jack didn’t have the first clue.

Izzy was back a moment later with a bulging backpack. “I raided Aunt Clare’s fridge at breakfast. I’ve got cheese. Bread. Tomatoes. Apples.”

Flora was so full of lake water she didn’t think there was room for food, but eating was a bonding experience so she was determined to force something down. “I thought you’d come here on impulse.”

“No. I came because I love it. It’s peaceful. But my dad, Aiden—they usually try to stop me coming because it can be rough when the weather turns.”

Flora had been trying not to look at the water. “I’d noticed.”

“When I’m here, I pretend this is my island. No one can land without my permission.”

“Except people who have no idea how to row a boat.”

“Technically you’re now shipwrecked.” Izzy spread the picnic out on her coat and Flora discovered that maybe she was hungry after all.

“I love picnics. There’s something about eating outdoors that makes the food taste better.”

“Yeah?” Izzy bit into a hunk of bread. “Mom hated picnics.”