Then two more.
They didn’t move cautiously.
They walked through our yard with the relaxed confidence of people who had done it many times before.
One person immediately removed the hot tub cover.
Another set down an insulated bag full of drinks and snacks.
Someone connected a phone to a portable speaker.
Music began playing.
Then all four climbed into our hot tub.
Tom and I sat completely still on the hotel bed.
Eventually, one of the people moved close enough to the camera for me to recognize his face.
Jim.
Our next-door neighbor.
The same Jim who had waved at us from his driveway every week for four years.
The same Jim who had borrowed Tom’s socket wrench the previous summer and politely returned it.
Then I recognized the woman beside him.
