Lorraine looked at the checks for a long minute. “I voted for her,” she said quietly. “I am extremely sorry.”
“Mrs. Pike, you’re not the one who owes me an apology,” I told her.
They Cut My Grandfather’s Tree for Their Million-Dollar Entrance — So I Made Them Pay $75,000 a Year to Use It
Word got back to Corrine within 48 hours. At the next HOA meeting, she denounced Francis, Jed, and Lorraine by name. She accused them of collaborating with an outside adversary and stripped them of their committee seats. Francis drove out to my ranch that Sunday with a pan of cornbread and a tired laugh. She told me whatever I decided to do, she wanted to help. I filed her name away in my head. I was going to need her.
Corrine took the resignations as a green light to escalate. She hired a contractor to widen the road by six feet. They brought in dump trucks, a grader, and a twelve-ton roller. They dumped fresh fill right along the riparian buffer strip that ran down to Clearwater Creek.
