Radio Silence

“The rumour mill,” Lisa said, her voice dropping to a confidential whisper. “People talk. About boundaries. About young teachers who maybe don’t understand the… optics… of getting too close to certain families.”

The world tilted slightly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Janet said. Her mouth tasted like copper.

“Oh, I think you do,” Lisa said. She wasn’t smiling. This wasn’t friendly gossip. This was a perimeter check. “We just want to make sure everyone is safe. Eve is a great teacher, but she’s young. She might not realize that targeting a single mom—someone in a vulnerable position—could be seen as predatory. From a liability standpoint.”

Predatory.

The word hung in the hot, dry air. Lisa was twisting it. She was taking the kindness, the patience, the gentle, terrified courtship, and she was turning it into something ugly. She was framing Janet as a victim and Eve as a threat.

Rage, sudden and hot, spiked in Janet’s chest. It burned through the shame.

“Eve isn’t a predator, Lisa,” Janet said. Her voice was low, shaking with the effort to keep it steady. “And I’m not a victim.”

Lisa raised an eyebrow. “I’m just telling you what people are saying. For your own good. You don’t want Connor caught in the middle of a personnel issue.”

It was a threat. A polite, suburban threat wrapped in liability language.

“Connor is thriving,” Janet said. She stepped around Lisa. “Excuse me.”