He told me to stop by.
So I did.
The transformation was incredible.
The water was perfectly clear.
The waterfall was running.
The spa was circulating properly.
Everything looked new again.
I called Dad from the driveway.
“It looks beautiful.”
“Yes,” he said.
Then he paused.
“It does.”
Two days later, Melissa Emory refused to pay him.
Melissa was Richard’s wife.
According to Dad, she called the $7,800 invoice ridiculous and offered $3,000 instead.
Dad reminded her that the work had already been approved.
She argued that only Richard had signed the original estimate.
That was technically true.
But Dad had another document.
Before beginning work, he always asked property owners to sign a work authorization referencing the original estimate.
Richard had signed it.
So had Melissa.
The authorization specifically referenced the estimate number and therefore the agreed scope and price.
“She knows exactly what she agreed to,” I told Dad.
