“That’s a good idea. I’ll try that.” He stood up and held out his hand. “Let’s walk. What sort of person were you back then? How did you change?”

“I became anxious.” She strolled with him along the path, trying not to think that this might be the last time. “I was wrenched away from everything I knew, and I found it hard to find any comfort or sense of safety in my new life. All I wanted was my mom. I felt very insecure.”

“Makes sense. You’d seen everything disappear. You couldn’t trust in the permanence of anything.”

“Exactly.”

“And your aunt made you feel like an outsider.” His hand tightened on hers. “And yet you handled it, and you’ve grown into this great person—” he stopped walking and pulled her toward him “—and that makes me a little less worried for my girls.”

Flora wasn’t sure she should be a source of inspiration to anyone. She often thought her life was a total mess.

On the other hand she had handled it. And it was true that she had major insecurities, but she was handling those, too. Normally she was guarded, but she’d just told him things she hadn’t told anyone before and was still in one piece.

“How is Izzy doing?”

“She’s really stepped up. I’m proud of her. I worry about her, of course, but I’m assuming a few ups and downs are natural and on the whole she’s coping remarkably well. You saw her the other night—she has it all sorted.”

Flora didn’t think she had anything sorted. “Was she always helpful around the home?”

“No. Typical teenager I suppose. Mostly focused on herself. Becca had a thing about mess. She liked everything to be neat and tidy, and Izzy was never tidy so there were a few explosions about that. But now she’s my superstar. I couldn’t manage without her. And she has so much patience with her sister.” He tugged her out of the path of a mother jogging with a stroller. “Izzy was especially close to her mother, so it’s hard for her, but you’d never know it.”

She’d known.

Flora thought about the tension in those hands as they’d cleaned up ketchup.

She wanted to ask if she’d made things harder by visiting, but she already knew the answer to that one. “It must be hard for all of you, but your girls will be okay because they have each other and they have you. Molly is probably feeling insecure, but you are so good with her, so present and so is Izzy, that the feeling will fade in time. And she still has her home, her school and her friends. She’s going to be okay, I’m sure she is. So is Izzy. It helps that you’re so willing to talk about it.”