“No point in having a lake if you don’t use it. We swam off the dock.” Aiden strolled to the table and scanned the food.
“In your clothes?”
Izzy was glaring at Flora. She decided eye contact was making it worse, so she looked away. Should she say something? Or was it better if Jack did?
His arm was still looped round her shoulders, protective. Possessive.
“It was an impulse thing.” Aiden tore off a piece of bread and ate it without bothering with a plate. “It’s a warm evening. Clothes dry. Don’t fuss.”
Clare turned to Izzy. “Do you want to take a hot shower before you eat? Change?”
“I’m fine, Aunt Clare.” There was an instant change in Izzy’s manner once her attention wasn’t focused on Flora.
She wondered what she’d been doing with Aiden other than swimming. Were they together? A couple? Or just friends.
Using the food as an excuse, she managed to ease away from Jack’s arm just as Molly sprinted up to her.
“Flora! Come and watch Chase run after the stick. He’s so funny.”
“Don’t you want to eat?” Flora put a leg of chicken on her plate and added salad.
“Soon.”
“I’ll come,” Izzy said, but Molly took Flora’s free hand and tugged.
“Flora needs to see. She’s never seen the way he does those spins.”
Flora allowed herself to be tugged away. It was a relief, to be honest, because Izzy was scowling again and you didn’t have to be a genius to know why. Jack shouldn’t have been affectionate in public. On the other hand what sort of relationship would this be if they couldn’t touch each other? Molly seemed to have accepted that they were together. How long would it take Izzy to do the same? Maybe it was never going to happen.
She watched as Chase raced after the stick, tumbling over himself each time he did an emergency stop. When Molly picked up the stick to throw it again, he trembled with anticipation, leaping on the spot and making her giggle. It was a delicious sound. Happiness i
n the moment, all dark clouds forgotten. Girl and dog.
Flora had always wanted a dog. She’d begged her aunt, but her aunt had considered dogs a rung below children on the ladder of inconveniences. She’d pointed out that a dog would bark, make a mess and need walking and Flora had wanted to say But it will love me, and I will love it back.
Now, listening to Molly’s infectious laughter, she wondered what her childhood would have been like if it had been messier and filled with dogs.
By the time they returned to the group, Molly was grubby from stick-throwing and out of breath.
“Daddy, can we have a dog?”
“I’m having enough trouble caring for two-legged creatures. Not sure I can cope with four.” Jack loaded a plate with food and handed it to her.
Izzy snatched it from him before Molly could take it. “She has to wash her hands first.”
“Good point.” Clare gestured to the house. “Go and wash them, sweetie. Use soap.”
Chase whined and followed Molly toward the house. Flora followed her, and when they returned the conversation was still focused on pets.
“Maybe I should get a dog,” Jack said, and Todd rolled his eyes and handed him a beer.
“Only if you’re prepared for chaos. And to ditch those white sofas of yours. Crazy decision.”
“Not my crazy decision.”
Flora agreed with Todd. She thought white sofas were a crazy choice when you had children. Don’t go in that room, don’t touch—her aunt’s most used word had been don’t.
Had Jack protested at the choice of white?