The women turned.
One smiled pleasantly.
"Oh! You must be Devon."
He frowned.
"Yes."
She stood.
"Linda said residents could use the pool during the afternoon wellness hours."
Devon stared.
"What wellness hours?"
The woman looked confused.
"The HOA program."
He took a slow breath.
"There's no HOA swimming program at my house."
The women exchanged glances.
One immediately looked embarrassed.
"I'm sorry. We thought she had permission."
Devon believed her.
They appeared genuinely surprised and uncomfortable.
He explained that the pool was private and asked them to gather their belongings and leave.
They complied.
Before going, one woman apologized again.
Devon nodded.
"You're fine. Just please check with the property owner before entering someone's backyard."
After they left, he checked the garden gate.
It had been left improperly secured following landscaping work earlier that day.
He closed it firmly and replaced the latch with a more reliable lock.
Then he called Linda.
She answered cheerfully.
"Devon! How lovely."
He didn't return the enthusiasm.
"Linda, why did you send people to my pool?"
She sighed.
"Oh, the wellness group."
"I told you I wasn't interested."
"You're making this much harder than it needs to be."
Devon closed his eyes.
"Please stop telling people they can enter my backyard."
There was a pause.
Then Linda's voice became cold.
"We'll discuss this at the next HOA meeting."
Devon shook his head.
"This isn't something the board gets to decide for me."
She ended the call.
And the first official-looking violation notice arrived four days later.
The notice alleged that Devon's pool created a community-access inconsistency.
He read the phrase three times.
Then checked the cited section of the governing documents.
It didn't say what Linda claimed.
The provision concerned the maintenance of common recreational areas, not the forced sharing of privately owned pools.
Devon contacted the management company.
The representative couldn't identify any adopted rule requiring homeowners to provide recreational access to their yards.
He forwarded the notice to an attorney specializing in property and association disputes.
Her name was Rachel Morgan.
Rachel reviewed the documents and explained that the president couldn't simply declare a private pool to be community property.
There might be valid rules concerning safety, maintenance, or exterior alterations.
But those restrictions didn't automatically create a right for residents to swim there.
Devon asked what he should do.
Rachel advised him to respond in writing, preserve the correspondence, and avoid escalating personal confrontations.
He agreed.
The response was brief.
He confirmed that the pool was private, disputed the unsupported violation notice, and requested that the association stop advertising or encouraging unauthorized access.