For more than a year, my neighbors had been using my hot tub without permission.
At first, I didn’t even know it was happening.
Then one afternoon,s. a casual complaint about noise exposed something that made my stomach drop.
And when my husband and I finally checked the security footage, we discovered that our neighbors weren’t simply sneaking into our backyard for an occasional soak.
They had been treating our property like their own private resort.
And somehow, that still wasn’t the worst part.
My husband, Tom, and I had bought our dream house a few years earlier.
The house itself was beautiful, but my favorite part had always been the backyard.
It was private.
Quiet.
Surrounded by fencing and mature trees.
And in the middle of it all sat the hot tub.
After a long week of work, there was nothing better than sitting outside with Tom, listening to the water circulate while the rest of the world seemed to disappear.
It was our little escape.
Or at least, I thought it was.
One afternoon, I was bringing groceries inside when our neighbor Lisa stopped me near the driveway.
She looked uncomfortable.
“Could you guys maybe keep it down in the evenings?”
I frowned.
“Keep what down?”
“The music,” she said. “And the shouting.”
I stared at her.
“What music?”
She hesitated.
“Sunday night was especially loud.”
I could feel the confusion spreading across my face.
“What Sunday night?”
Lisa pointed toward our backyard.
“There were people in your hot tub until pretty late.”
My stomach tightened.
Tom and I had been out of town that entire weekend.
Nobody had permission to enter our yard.
“Nobody was supposed to be there,” I told her.
Lisa’s expression changed.
