I stared at her.
Pale. Shaking. Completely different from the smug woman who stood in my yard two days earlier.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
Kimberly swallowed hard.
“The line I was installing…” she said, her voice trembling. “It didn’t just go through your yard.”
My stomach tightened.
“It hit something,” she continued.
“Something I wasn’t supposed to touch.”
I felt a chill run through me.
“What kind of something?”
She looked like she might cry.
“A main utility line,” she whispered.
Silence.
“Not just any line,” she added quickly. “A protected one. Fiber and electrical routing combined. The contractor says it’s part of a shared grid.”
My heart started pounding.
“And because I didn’t get proper permits…” she continued, her voice cracking,
“I’m liable for ALL the damage.”
I blinked.
“How much?” I asked quietly.
She shook her head.
“I don’t even know yet,” she said. “But they said it could be tens of thousands. Maybe more.”
The words hung in the air.
“And that’s not even the worst part,” she added.
I frowned.
“They’ve already reported it,” she said.
“To the city.”
Of course they had.
Kimberly let out a broken laugh.
“I thought I could just dig, run the line, and cover it back up,” she said.
Just like she told me.
“It’s not a big deal.”
But now…
It was.
“They said I damaged regulated infrastructure,” she continued. “There are fines. Legal consequences. I might have to tear up my own yard too to fix everything.”
For a moment…
I didn’t say anything.
Because I was standing there…
Remembering how she had shrugged.
How she had dismissed me.
How she had destroyed the one thing my husband had never gotten to have.
“I’m so sorry,” she said suddenly.
I looked at her.
Really looked at her.
This wasn’t the same woman anymore.
This was someone who finally understood consequences.
“I didn’t think…” she whispered.
“No,” I said quietly.
“You didn’t.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I’ll fix your lawn,” she said quickly. “I’ll pay for everything. I promise.”
I held her gaze.
Because now…
She had no choice.
A week later, contractors were back.
Not just fixing the underground damage…
But completely redoing my yard.
New sod.
New irrigation.
Even better than before.
And this time…
I didn’t pay a single dollar.
The Japanese maples were replanted.
The grass rolled out like a green carpet again.
And when it was finished…
I stood there in the quiet.
For the first time since my husband passed…
It felt like something had been made right.
Not because of revenge.
But because sometimes…
Karma does the work for you.
