Chapter 4 - Whose WaterWe walked into the backyard. Byron turned when he heard us — his expression almost impossible to describe. Standing in our yard, tinted green, unable to leave through the gate, trying to decide whether to be angry or embarrassed.
"Whitney," he said. "What is going on?"
I brought the laptop outside. "I was about to ask you the same question."
I turned the screen toward him — footage from that evening, then footage from the previous weekend. There they were, walking through our gate, opening our hot tub, bringing drinks, playing music, making themselves comfortable.
Byron stopped talking. Priya stared at her arms. "Is this stuff safe?"
"Completely. The color will disappear in a day or two."
She frowned. "You put dye in our water?"
"My water," I said.
Nobody said anything. Nadia stared at the ground — seventeen years old, suddenly deeply embarrassed by the situation her parents had put her in. Cole looked at his father. "Dad…"
Byron finally spoke. "Whitney, I know this looks bad."
"How exactly does it look?"
He hesitated. "Bad."
"It looks like you've been using our hot tub while we're away for nearly a year. It looks like Priya came to our house pretending to complain so she could find out whether we knew. And it looks like even after you must have suspected a camera, you kept coming anyway, because you assumed we wouldn't check."
Byron sighed. "I can explain."
"Go ahead."
What followed wasn't really an explanation. It was a collection of excuses — the hot tub wasn't being used, he figured we probably wouldn't care, he'd always meant to ask, there was never a good moment.
I let him finish, then said, "We've paid for the electricity, the chemicals, the maintenance, and the service on this hot tub for four years. We assumed it was sitting unused because we hadn't had time for it. Apparently our neighbors decided that meant they could use it without asking."
Byron nodded.
Desmond finally spoke. "Your wife came to our door and blamed us for the noise."
Priya said nothing.
Byron looked at the gate. "Can I have the code so we can leave?"
Desmond crossed his arms. "I'll open the gate when we're finished talking."
I looked at both of them. "We need this to be absolutely clear. You will never enter our yard without permission again. You will never use anything on our property again. And if you have something to discuss with us in the future, you speak to us honestly."
"Of course," Byron said quickly.
"And I want an actual apology. Not another explanation."
A long silence. Finally Byron nodded. "I'm sorry. I really am. It started small and went too far."
Priya looked at me. "I'm sorry too. Coming to your door like that was wrong. I knew it was wrong."
Nadia apologized without being asked. Cole followed. Desmond unlocked the gate. They left.
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For a few minutes, we just stood in our backyard looking at the hot tub.
I thought the story was over. I was wrong.
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