Hillbilly Mom Has a Dilemma

Hillbilly Mom has a dilemma, my friends. A dilemma that involves
money. Now don't ya'll volunteer to help me spend it. That is not
the dilemma.

My Hillbilly Husband and I own a lake lot with two other couples.
It is at the lake where that kid disappeared after an underage
drinking party a couple weeks ago, and was found dead in his
car at the bottom of the lake. Hey! We had nothing to do with it!
We haven't even been out there this year.

We bought the lot as tax sale property, which means all we had
to pay was something like 3 years' back taxes. I think it cost less
than $100. It's not on the lake, but a couple roads back. We
didn't want it to build something on the lot. We wanted it so we
could have access to the lake for our little pontoon boat (that HH
bought on a used car lot), and to fish in the ponds, and to have
access to the swimming pool. All was well, we three couples
split the yearly assessment fees and taxes, and we all had a good
time. Then the lake association raised the fees, so that each part
of an ownership had to pay the full fee, instead of just splitting it.
We still had a good time.

Then one of the couples got divorced, another couple moved
away, and HH and I had the two boy young 'uns. We still all
paid our parts of the assessments and taxes, but we just didn't
see each other anymore.

The bills come to us, because HH is the one who went and got
the whole thing bought and titled. It comes to Mr. HH et al.
Which I believe means: 'and others.' Or else that's just what
I think it means. I send a check for payment in full, make a
copy of the bills for each couple, and send it to them. When
they are good and ready, they pay us. It's no big deal, except
last year when HH kept dragging his feet about taking the bill
up the road to his buddy, and then bartered with him for a
load of gravel instead of the money, giving Buddy a $50
discount because HH told him what he thought it cost, instead
of actually looking at the copies I gave him. But that was not
Buddy's fault.

This year, Buddy hasn't paid yet. He probably hasn't even
thought about paying yet. The other couple called at the end
of January, as they were getting their taxes together, and I told
them the amount. It was something like $126 and change.

Here's my dilemma. Yesterday, we got a check from the couple
for $126 and change. I thought they had already sent us that
money. HH also thought they had already sent us that money.
I looked back throught the checkbook, and could find no record
of a deposit in that amount. Even if I cash a check like that, I
make a note of it in the checkbook, because that's how I keep
records. Like if my Hillbilly Mama takes the kids to the doctor,
and pays cash for the co-pay, I write it in the checkbook thingy
showing 'cash'. But I have no record that they ever paid us
anything. I do remember sending them the copies, even though
I'd told them the amount, because I thought they'd need it for
their tax records. I don't even want to think about Bartering
Buddy's tax records.

Should I call them, and ask them to check their checkbook, to
see if they already paid us the money? Or should I put the check
in the bank, since I have no record that they paid? I don't want
to cause hard feelings if they did already pay, and make them
pay twice. But I don't want to cheat HH and I out of $126
(and change) if they really didn't pay. And I don't want to start
them thinking, "Hey, we paid that already, didn't we?" and be
resentful of us if they can't find it in their records.

I guess I will put the money in the bank, and if they ever call
to let us know they paid us twice, we'll give them a refund.
I can't be bookkeeper for the entire human race.