And the association's attorney was refusing to endorse Caroline's interpretation of the estate boundary.
For the first time in six years, the president was facing a board that wouldn't simply accept her explanation.
So she called her husband.
Graham Whitmore was sitting in his office at Desert Vale Community Improvements, reviewing the latest construction estimates.
When his wife called, he answered impatiently.
“Caroline, I'm in a meeting.”
She didn't care.
“We have a problem.”
He sighed.
“What now?”
“Miriam is asking for every invoice connected with the walkway.”
There was silence.
Then Graham lowered his voice.
“Why?”
“Because that man has been sending letters through his attorney.”
Graham closed his eyes.
“Caroline, I told you to leave the estate owner alone until we had a proper access agreement.”
She stared.
“You told me the route had to go through his property.”
“It does, if we want the original design.”
“Then he needs to cooperate.”
Graham's voice hardened.
“You cannot force him to grant an easement by pretending he's in the HOA.”
For several seconds, Caroline didn't speak.
Then she whispered angrily.
“I thought you said the board would approve it.”
“The board approved design work. Not taking somebody's land.”
Caroline looked toward the window.
She seemed genuinely offended by the distinction.
“What's the difference if the path helps the community?”
Graham remained silent.
Then answered.
“The difference is that he owns the property.”
Caroline's jaw tightened.
She ended the call.
For a moment, she stood in the middle of her enormous living room, staring at the black folder she carried everywhere.
Inside were the project maps.
The budget summaries.
The compliance notices.
And the unsigned acknowledgment she'd hoped to persuade me to accept.
She'd spent years treating HOA authority as something that grew larger whenever she spoke confidently enough.
Now the actual documents were refusing to cooperate.
And she had one week before the board meeting.
One week to convince the homeowners that she was defending them from an unreasonable outsider.
Or risk having them discover that the president who promised to protect their property values had spent association money on a project that depended upon rights she never possessed.