14. Some Heroes Wear Rainbow Capes [Part 2]

TW: homophobia

Miss Schneider had not been exaggerating. Mrs. Sosa, the wife of an air travel controller who lived down the street, had been running after the kids through the front lawn, a piece of colorful cloth jammed in her fist, stumbling every time her heel got stuck in a hole in the grass. Ari had been laughing like a hysterical monkey, and it took some time before we managed to calm down all parties and urge them inside, away from nosy neighbors.

Elizabeth was furious with me, if I were to believe her eyes. Served her right. For once, I couldn't care less, because I was still fuming as well.

Mrs. Sosa was breathing fast. Her hair was stuck to her face, and the fabric of her spotless white blouse was drenched at her armpits. She was still holding the piece of cloth, squeezing it so tight I wondered if she longed to rip someone to shreds with her long beige nails. "Your daughters," she began, a bit of spit leaving her mouth along with the words, "thought it was funny to tape this—" she opened her hand, shaking the cloth to reveal a rainbow flag, "—to my car. So, what do these young ladies have to say for themselves, hm?"

Elizabeth was trying to glare at me, but I ignored it. Obviously, I was in trouble— no doubt that was my flag, and I, as the nanny, should've prevented this from happening. I was still too mad at her to feel real remorse, though.

Manon was looking at her feet, her cheeks beet red. Ari, on the other hand, placed her hands on her hips, a cheeky glint in her eyes. "Well, you still haven't told us what your pronouns are," she said, "so we can't say anything yet. And you haven't asked for mine, so don't assume I'm a young lady. I'm actually a badass."

Okay, so maybe, this whole thing was on me, after all. Ari had been doing this for a while, asking random people for their pronouns like it was a contest. I'd told her to be careful of bigots who were against that sort of thing, to which she'd replied that I was a lousy lesbian because I didn't care about pronouns enough. I'd figured I should just let it go, and she'd learn her lesson in due time. I didn't think it would come to bite me in the ass—silly me.

Mrs. Sosa was seething, her chest going up and down rapidly as she pointed at Ari. "See?" she said to Elizabeth. "What kind of nonsense is this?"

Elizabeth breathed in deeply. "Girls, apologize to Mrs. Sosa for touching her belongings." Though her voice came out calm and collected, her eyes told a whole different story.

It seemed Manon had noticed it too. "Mom, we only used tape! It came right off." She looked so small at this moment with her shoulders drooping, having sensed that they were in deep, deep trouble, while Ari still stood proudly as a valiant knight.

Mrs. Sosa hissed: "Along with the coating!"

Oh no. I was going down for this. What was I thinking, not interfering with their mischief?

Elizabeth offered her one of her apologetic business looks, the one I was sure she must've practiced in the mirror to perfect it, and though convincing, was as genuine as any of Trump's marriages. "I'll pay for the damages, of course," she said, then turned to her kids with a whole different expression: "Manon, Ari, I'm serious. You'll apologize to Mrs. Sosa, and Jessie and I will come up with a suitable punishment. You don't mess with other people's property."

Ari clicked her tongue. "Yeah, well, you don't mess with my nanny."

Ah. Just my luck. This had something to do with me. It didn't surprise me, considering I was pretty sure that was my rainbow flag. Elizabeth's attention shifted to me, dark eyes forcing me to explain myself.

"Don't look at me." I shrugged, because even if maybe I could be blamed for this, I was still angry too. "I have no idea what's going on here."

Mrs. Sosa, who hadn't acknowledged me so far, produced a sort of righteous yelp as she gave me a once-over, bringing her free hand to her chest. "I'm shocked that you let your nanny talk to you like that, Elizabeth." She shook her head disapprovingly. "Honestly, I've been worried about you ever since Connery decided to move to Europe, but I had no idea it'd gone this far."

Oh, boy. Wrong move.

Elizabeth gifted her an icy stare. "With all due respect, my employee's manners don't concern you, Ingrid."

"They do when my children go on playdates with your children." She tore her gaze away from me, then considered the flag she was still holding, crinkling her nose at it like it was a dead rotting rat. "Frankly, I'm not the only one who's been uneasy with your staffing choices."

Elizabeth froze. "Excuse me?"

But it all made sense now. Yeah, Ari was a cheeky shit, but she knew very well how far she could go without inviting her mother's wrath over her, even more so when Manon acted like her conscience. They wouldn't just stick a rainbow flag to someone's car for fun. If Ari had wanted to annoy Mrs. Sosa, she'd have simply ding dong ditched her. It wouldn't have been the first time.

"Mrs. Sosa," I said, the blood in my veins going cold, "you wouldn't by any chance have a problem with me being gay, would you?"

She smoothed her blouse, avoiding looking at me, which was as much of an answer as anything she could say. "I have nothing against people like you. I, like many others, just think it's not wise to put someone like you in a position of power over innocent kids."

Even though I'd heard stuff like this countless times before, it still managed to hurt me. For a long moment, the hallway was crackling with a loaded silence, Manon shuffling in place, Ari sticking out her tongue, and Elizabeth — Elizabeth had frozen. Ice-cold fear spread through my body as my heartbeat sped up. I'd warned her, before I started to work for her. I'd been honest about my sexuality from the start. Though she accepted me, she'd now discovered how much trouble it could cause, and I, the person who'd just refused her generous offer to help me learn how to read, was not worth that kind of trouble.

I'd made a colossal mistake. I'd gotten too comfortable. Got attached, again. I'd treated Elizabeth like a friend instead of a boss, even though she kept saying our relationship was strictly business. She'd caught me being lazy just a moment ago and had been met with my childish temper when she'd tried to offer me the chance of a lifetime.

And now I was going to pay for it.

She unfroze gradually, her eyes flickering to me before settling on the kids. "Girls," she began, her tone nothing like a moment ago, "did you tape a rainbow flag to Mrs. Sosa's car because she's homophobic?"

Mrs. Sosa opened her mouth: "I'm not—"

Elizabeth, however, shushed her with a warning finger, waiting for the kids to respond.

"Obviously," Ari said. Manon nodded, still obsessed with her own feet.

"I see." She seemed to be thinking deeply, wringing her hands together as she regarded the crumpled rainbow flag.

"I swear I had no idea about this," I blurted out, and I realized I sounded like the kids. But I couldn't lose a job over this, not again, not this one that I loved so much. Having to leave Manon, Ari, Cami — it'd break me, and this time, there would be no repairing it.

She just looked at me. I couldn't detect any sparks or fire in her gaze. It didn't soothe me — I had no idea what was going on in her head.

Mrs. Sosa pursed her lips. "What an excellent nanny you employ. Doesn't even know the kids are partaking in criminal activities."

Manon stepped forward, clasping her hands in front of her as tears gathered in her eyes. "Mom, please," she said, half begging, half sobbing, "we didn't know it was going to get the paint off the car. I was very careful!" Ari just sort of growled.

"See?" Mrs. Sosa jabbed a finger in my direction. "This is what you get when you consort with people like her! Your kids used to be respectable little darlings..." There was a frown on Elizabeth's face. Any second now I expected her to scream at me, like Mr. Khan when that customer had complained about me — my legs seemed to stop working, and I grabbed the edge of the salon table to steady myself as Mrs. Sosa continued her rant: "Now they go around asking people for their proper nouns and vandalizing cars with rainbow flags."

"Oh, shut up, Karen."

I blinked, wondering if I'd been dreaming— if I'd somehow misheard her or made this whole thing up. But no. It had been Elizabeth, all annoyed and done with this conversation, the same way she'd be when the kids had been whining for hours and she was fed up with it.

Everyone stared at her, and only then did she seem to realize her mistake. She took a deep breath, then corrected: "I mean, Ingrid."

Next to me, both kids erupted in a fit of giggles, Manon attempting to hide behind me. I couldn't move. Had she really...? Had she just...? Fuck. Finally, I managed to breathe again, big, deep gulps of air, expelling the fear from my body.

Elizabeth strutted towards Mrs. Sosa, and oh, did she manage to be intimidating even on sneakers. In a perfect dramatic gesture, she yanked the front door open. "I think it's time for you to leave. I'll e-mail you so we can figure out how to settle the damages."

Mrs. Sosa seemed to be recovered from the shock, standing up straight as she gasped audibly. "My, my. Have I ever?" she tutted. "I've always defended you against the rumors, but it seems you have some questionable morals after all."

"So it would seem," Elizabeth said, startling all of us by wrenching the rainbow flag out of those evil clutches. "Who even knows how questionable." With a tiny, barely detectable grin, she flung the flag over her shoulders, clasping the corners together before her chest, wearing the six colors like a superhero cape.

I gaped at her. None of my many bosses had ever bothered to defend me from bigots, blaming it all on me being too sensitive or too open, whatever that meant, and none of them had ever picked up a rainbow flag and draped it around them to don it like a queen. Nor would any of them have looked this damn hot doing it. Just saying. My heart might've fluttered at that moment, not that I'd ever tell her.

Mrs. Sosa seemed to have developed the same sudden cardiac problems as I had, judging by the way she covered her chest with both hands. "Well," she muttered, glancing from Elizabeth to me. "Well, if that is... And I thought... A waste..." Slowly, she started to step backward. "I thought you'd be reasonable. If this is your stance, though, then I'm going to have to have coffee with Mrs. Miller and... spill the tea."

Immediately, Elizabeth's face went as white as sugar. I hadn't expected it — bringing her mother-in-law into this hardly seemed like a threat after what she just did for me.

Her opponent cracked a smug, tight-lipped smile, reaching for the doorknob. "Goodbye."

If she thought she'd won, she was in for a surprise. The color had returned to Elizabeth's cheeks, and she commanded: "Stop." Mrs. Sosa did, clearly affronted. "You won't do anything of the sort. In fact, if I hear you complain about my nanny one more time, I'll be spreading some rumors of my own. Like you did when Connery left." Mrs. Sosa clutched the golden cross dangling from her necklace, no sign of a smile left. Elizabeth, on the other hand, bared her teeth in the perfect revenge smirk. "I presume you wouldn't want Carlos to know about those weekends away, would you?"

She was gone before the kids could even high-five each other.