“Portable coolers and cider dispensers.”
“Delivery
address?”
He checked his clipboard.
“Mercer Farm. North event lot.”
“There is no north event lot. Turn around.”
Trish came beside me.
“We’ve already paid for delivery.”
“That sounds expensive.”
“You can’t disrupt contracted vendors.”
“I’m not.”
I pointed toward the county road.
“I’m telling a stranger he can’t unload equipment on my property.”
The driver looked from Trish to me.
“You the owner?”
“Yes.”
He shifted into reverse.
Trish stepped toward his window.
“Wait.”
He didn’t.
The truck backed down the lane.
I watched until it reached the county road.
Then I faced Trish again.
For the first time, her confidence cracked.
Not much.
Just enough.
A little stiffness around her mouth.
A little calculation behind the sunglasses.
“How many tickets did you sell?”
She said nothing.
“How many?”
“This weekend’s event has been very successful.”
“That wasn’t a number.”
“Ticket sales are an HOA matter.”
“Not when the
tickets are for my property.”
Her jaw tightened.
“One thousand eight hundred advance tickets.”
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because the number was so outrageous that my brain briefly refused to treat it as real.
“Eighteen hundred people?”
“Across three days.”
“At what price?”
“That varies.”
“How much?”
“General admission was thirty-five dollars. Family packages were higher.”
I did the math silently.
At minimum, sixty-three thousand dollars.
Before concessions.
Before parking.
Before VIP packages.
Before vendor fees.
Before whatever else she had sold.
“You sold sixty thousand dollars’ worth of tickets to walk through corn you don’t own.”
“The association has rights to use this parcel.”
“No.”
“Jack—”
“No.”
I didn’t raise my voice.
That bothered her more than yelling would have.
Because anger could be dismissed.
Calm required an answer.
She reached into her leather tote and produced a folder.
“I expected resistance, which is why
I brought this.”
Inside was a photocopy of a document.
AGRICULTURAL RECREATION ACCESS AGREEMENT.
My name appeared at the top.
Cedar Ridge Homeowners Association appeared beneath it.
The agreement supposedly granted the HOA recreational access to thirty-two acres of Mercer Farm each September and October.
