Sidney knocked on the door three times and waited for Diane to answer. The eighteen-year-old blond had visited his girlfriend's home several times. The interior had become familiar and he could easily recognize each room and piece of furniture in the two-story building. Furthermore, he had met her father twice. He appeared to be a good man who took care of Diane very well. Sidney showed that he would never threaten Byron's daughter at any time. Now that he proved himself worthy of gaining access to their home, Sidney had no fear when knocking on the front door on this cool and pleasant Friday afternoon. The city of Anaheim showed no signs of giving his good luck an unexpected hiatus.
But when the front door opened, Sidney didn't stand in front of Diane this time. Byron appeared as the same stoic father as before. His tall stature and broad shoulders made him look like he would belong on the cover of a men's magazine. Today, he wore blue jeans and black polo shirt.
The forty-two-year-old man spoke with his usual smooth baritone voice. "Hello, Sidney. I didn't expect to see you here."
Sidney replied with a smile. "I'm here to see Diane. Is she here?"
Byron shook his head. "She's off to visit one of her cousins. She'll come back in about an hour or so."
Sidney scratched his head. "That's strange. She said that she would meet me here."
"Yes, she told me about it. But I am assuming that she forget to tell you that she left."
"I guess I can come back later."
"I will still let you in. We should get to know each other a little more."
Sidney shrugged his shoulders. "Sure. It'll be harmless, I promise."
Byron let him in the house. All of a sudden, Sidney could hear someone's smartphone ringing from upstairs. "Is that yours?"
Byron nodded. "I think it's my ex-wife."
"How can you tell?"
Byron's frown didn't change. "I'm expecting an important call from her, and I think this is the one. Stay here. I'll be back."
He walked up the stairs while Sidney made his way into the living room. The young man had the freedom to watch anything on TV, with porn being the sole exception. He sat on the couch and picked up the remote. Since he didn't have his own Netflix account, he decided to watch anything on regular TV. But nothing good was on. All he could do now was wait for a hockey game to start in thirty minutes. Today, the Anaheim Ducks would play against the Vancouver Canucks, and Sidney anticipated a fifth consecutive win for the home team.
But then, a loud voice caught his attention. Sidney turned off the TV and heard Byron yelling from upstairs. Sidney froze. Usually, the father would be calm and charismatic. This had been the first time that Sidney had heard him supposedly lose his temper. His ex-wife must have given him bad news on a rather touchy subject.
Sidney didn't know what to do. He just sat still on the sofa and waited for Byron to stop shouting. He could just feel the fury in the father's tone of voice. The conversation on the phone lasted for several more minutes. Sidney took slow breaths while tapping his fingers on the armrest. He didn't know whether to leave or just wait until Byron would finally hang up. He had hoped that Diane would just open the front door and enter the house. Unfortunately, she didn't arrive yet.
A few minutes later, Byron finally stopped yelling. The house had grown silent once more. Sidney breathed a sigh of relief. His curiosity experienced a sharp ascent. Byron's ex-wife must have done something sinister. He had heard a few things about the woman. Diane had told him about the divorce and how her mother had lied to the family court to keep Byron from seeing his daughter. Luckily, Byron had been given full custody of his only child when the truth was revealed. Now, Sidney wondered what bothered the father so much that it warranted his high volume.
He could hear footsteps from the stairs. He stood up to see Byron had returned from his intense conversation through the phone. He didn't appear too furious now, though his blank stare did give Sidney an uneasy feeling.
Byron asked, "Would you like something to drink?"
Sidney tried to smile. "Yeah, sure."
He followed Byron into the kitchen in silence. He sat at the counter while Byron opened the refrigerator door and looked inside. Sidney started to shiver. He couldn't imagine how much frustration lurked in the older man's state of mind. With that much of a loud voice in the distance, it could have been the most horrible thing that his ex-wife had done.
Byron pulled out a can of soda from the fridge. "Want one?"
Sidney quickly sat up straight. "Actually, I changed my mind. I'm not that thirsty."
Byron's blank stare didn't change. "That's okay. I'm not thirsty, either."
He closed the refrigerator and looked out the kitchen window. Sidney tried to say something, but couldn't. Byron just stood there, looking at something in the backyard. He looked as if he was a silent assassin gazing at its innocuous prey.
Sidney cleared his throat. "I, uh...so what did your ex-wife say?"
He immediately regretted saying those words. Fortunately, Byron didn't look too angry.
Instead, he just looked away from the window and replied, "She thinks she can cheat the system."
Sidney trembled for a second. "What, uh...what is she going to do?"
"It's complicated."
Sidney stood up from his seat. "I'm already interested. Tell me about it. I'm a good listener."
For some odd reason, Byron eyed him top to bottom before he replied, "She's been lying to her friends about me. She keeps telling them that I've been hurting Diane for the past few years. And one of her friends works in the same building as I do. She's been spreading the false rumor everywhere in the workplace. Some of them find it hard to believe, but a few of them are already convinced that I've been using Diane as my own personal punching bag. Now, I'm stuck with co-workers who won't even talk to me. One of them even called the cops on me. Diane kept me from being arrested when she told them the truth. But that didn't stop my ex-wife from doubling down on her lies."
"All this because your ex-wife hates your guts?"
Byron took deeper breaths. "She'll do anything to ruin my life. To be quite honest...I'm not in the best of moods right now."