We ate sandwiches while the water moved over stones.
For a long time, neither spoke.
Then Eli looked toward me.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you still mad at that HOA lady?”
I considered the question.
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Are you going to stay mad forever?”
I smiled faintly.
“I hope not.”
He looked toward the stream.
Then asked, “How do you stop?”
I thought for a moment.
“Sometimes you can't stop being angry immediately. But you can decide what you're going to do with it.”
Eli looked up.
“What does that mean?”
“It means being angry doesn't require you to become cruel.”
He considered that.
Then smiled.
“So you can still be mad and be nice?”
I laughed.
“Usually.”
He nodded.
Then looked toward his sandwich.
“That's harder than basketball.”
I laughed harder.
“Sometimes.”
For several minutes, we watched the water.
Then he asked something that caught me off guard.
“Do you think Grandpa would've liked Sandra?”
I nearly choked on my drink.
Eli grinned.
I shook my head.
“Your grandfather believed people should be honest about the work they did and the money they charged.”
Eli considered that.
“So probably not.”
I smiled.
“Probably not.”
He looked toward me.
Then said quietly, “I think Grandpa would've been proud you didn't let them take the car.”
My throat tightened.
I looked toward the mountains.
For a moment, I couldn't speak.
Then I nodded.
“Maybe.”
Eli leaned against my shoulder.
“I know he would.”
I wrapped an arm around him.
We remained there for several minutes.
And for the first time in weeks, I felt the tension leaving my chest.
Back in Oakfield Estates, the association's independent auditors were discovering a much more complicated financial picture.
Stonebridge's contract had been renewed several times during Sandra's tenure as compliance chair.
The board approved certain budget categories for patrols, parking enforcement support, and community security consulting.
But the complete financial records showed payments outside what several directors believed they had authorized.
Some invoices referred to work that could not be substantiated by ordinary activity logs.
Others described administrative tasks duplicated across separate bills.
And several unusually high payments followed disputed vehicle removals.
The auditors also found that Stonebridge had paid a related consulting company.
That company, Holt Neighborhood Advisory, was connected to Sandra and her husband through financial interests that had not been properly disclosed during the vendor-selection process.