Harold Bennett, who had sat through the ruling with his hand over Ruth's, asked only whether he and Ruth would have time to move without haste. Alice said yes, and that haste was exactly what the preliminary order was meant to prevent: no new sales, no new occupancy, and no sudden deadline while the full case was prepared. Harold nodded, and Ruth thanked her, and they left the courthouse together, walking slowly, as people do when they have been given difficult news in a form they can finally understand.
The second town-hall meeting was held in the same hall as the first, but the room felt different. At the first meeting, the families had come to hear whether a stranger's claim about their homes could possibly be true. At the second, they came knowing that a judge had ruled, preliminarily, that it was. The chairs were full. Sheriff Mark Hollis stood near the door, as he had before, not to intimidate anyone but to make clear that the meeting would proceed in order. Alice Moreno sat beside Tom at the front, with copies of the court order stacked on the table.
Priya Okafor arrived early with Daniel and Maya, who stayed close to her mother and did not ride her bicycle in the hall. Ruth and Harold Bennett took seats near the aisle, so Harold could leave easily if he needed air. The Nguyen family sat together, holding a folder of purchase documents. Sam Ortiz sat alone, with his arms folded, listening hard. The room was quiet in the way rooms are quiet when people are trying to be polite about being frightened.
Tom opened the meeting briefly. He did not repeat the history of the deed at length, because the families had heard it now from the court, from the Gazette, and from his own letter. He said only that the court had halted further sales and occupancy, that no one was being ordered out of their home that week, and that the purpose of the meeting was to give them a clear framework for what came next, rather than leaving them to learn it from rumour. He then sat down, because the meeting was not his to run.
A representative of the county planning office spoke next, and admitted, plainly, that the office had accepted the plat without checking the 1968 deed or the operating file. He said the office was short-staffed, which was true, and that it was not an excuse, which was also true. He said the office would cooperate with the court and with any relocation plan, and that no new permits would issue for basin lots. The admission did not fix anything, but it removed one more layer of confusion, and several residents nodded when they heard it.
The questions that followed were practical, not angry. How long could families stay while a plan was made? Who would pay for moving? What would happen to down payments? Would the houses on the ridge, above the high-water mark, be available, and at what price? Alice answered what she could, and said plainly what she could not yet answer, because the full trial and the settlement discussions had not concluded. She promised, in writing, a framework within days, with purchase price, moving costs, and a rent bridge addressed separately, so that no family would have to guess which part of their loss was covered.
The Nguyen family asked, through a neighbour who translated carefully, whether their purchase documents would be enough to prove what they had paid, and whether a language barrier at the original sale would count against them. Alice answered that the purchase price would be taken from the recorded sale, not from any family's ability to argue in English, and that the framework would be provided in writing so it could be read at home, without hurry. Sam Ortiz asked whether choosing a home elsewhere would reduce his buyout, and Alice said no: the terms were the same for a ridge house and for a home elsewhere, because the loss was the same either way. He nodded, and wrote that answer down in the margin of his printed copy.
A woman from Villa 12 asked what would happen to the pool, and to the shared amenity lot, if the basin was emptied. Tom answered that question himself, briefly, saying the pool sat over the old creek channel and would be among the first places to show seepage as the water table rose, which was why the court had halted further occupancy rather than waiting for damp walls to make the argument. He did not describe the water returning in dramatic terms. He described it as a schedule, and the room, which had heard enough drama from letters and headlines, seemed to prefer that.