She needed a strong man

Someone who is as emotionally volatile as Lizzie needs a person close to her who is unflinching in the face of her instability. It begins with her father, who shows in the revealing confrontation scene that he is not in control of himself either. He plays the victim, flipping the situation around on her, as if she needs to help him through such a difficult time. He is weak.

Rafe is not much better. He had to be like a rock face; when the huge waves of emotion crash against him, he is still, weathers the storm, and his own emotional state remains unchanged in the face of Lizzie's inner turmoil. Instead he was like a boat drifting on the ocean, and although he weathered many storms, eventually the waves capsized him.

If you look past her bratty or bitchy behaviour you'll see that all it would have taken to get her back on track is a man who can cut through all that smoke and challenge Lizzie to overcome her weaknesses and take responsibility for her situation. She had no direction and needed a strong masculine presence to point the way for her.