“I’m no expert but I’d guess no, it’s not normal. She thinks she’s a burden, so she has been trying to make herself useful to you. It was desperately important to her to feel loved and needed. I threatened her feeling of security by bonding with Molly, because it seemed to her that Molly no longer needed her, either.” It was difficult to imagine how hard it must have been for Izzy to see Molly crawling all over Flora. And she could see it clearly now. As her relationship with Molly had deepened, so her relationship with Izzy had become more fraught. “Her behavior makes so much more sense now.” And while part of her was relieved that her relationship with Izzy had taken a giant step forward, another part of her was aware that her relationship with Jack wasn’t what she’d thought it was. Maybe her aunt had been right. Maybe she expected too much of relationships.

Jack was still processing. “It still doesn’t make sense to me. I’ve been her dad for seventeen years. Why would she think she doesn’t have a place here?”

“I don’t know.” That part didn’t make sense to her, either. “It seems to have something to do with Becca. She thought that with Becca gone, you wouldn’t want her.”

“So all that stuff about not going to college—”

“I’m guessing it’s all linked.”

“I had no idea all this was going on in her head. You’re right, I should have talked to her more about her mother.” He gave a groan. “I guess I don’t find it easy to talk about and so when she didn’t seem to want to talk either I was relieved rather than worried. I tried so hard to give the girls the support they needed, and I’ve totally messed it up. It’s no excuse, but it’s tough doing it on your own.”

She wanted to point out that he didn’t have to do it on his own, that she was here and willing to be part of it and that if he’d involved her maybe, just maybe, she might have been able to help. But was she deluding herself? Perhaps he didn’t want that. Perhaps she was always going to be on the edge of his family and never fully a part of it.

An outsider.

She felt numb. Empty. The pain would come later, but for now she just needed to keep the focus on Izzy.

“I think you’ve done a great job, Jack, but you do need to talk to her.”

He stared across the lake and she could almost feel his mind working. “When did she tell you all this? Why did she confide in you all of a sudden?”