Free The Improbable by Tiara James Page A

she hate me that much?” I wondered.
               
“Well I don’t know but you must’ve really hurt her feelings, David.” Kate
shrugged. “But for the time bein ’, why don’t you come
socialize with the rest of her friends?”
               
I followed Kate back towards Rita and Sarah. The girls showered me with
questions about the night I saved Eva-Marie from drowning. None of the others
knew about the animosity between Eva-Marie and I besides Kate and for that I was thankful. I wouldn’t have been able to handle
three women with attitudes similar to Kate’s. As I told the story I wanted to
laugh when I thought about how I turned such a good deed into ice cold tension.
Once they began smoking, I wandered a few feet away and plopped down onto the
grass and looked up at the stars. They began cheering in the distance but I
didn’t bother to see what it was about, I was in too much of a trance staring
at the sky.
               
I stared and wondered how different my life would’ve been if my mom was still
alive. Would I still turn out as such an angry person? Was it actually her
death that turned me into such a cold person? Or was it the fact that to get
any reaction out of my father I had to do what made him happy and not myself?
Was it so much to want to be treated like his son that he…loved? I felt a
little silly what with me being the age of twenty-four and still feeling hurt
by the fact that my father never wanted to get closer with me. I sighed and
chugged the rest of my beer. The snapping of twigs on the ground behind me
startled me, making me turn around to check and see what it was. Or who .
               
There coming toward me, as cautious and as graceful as a dainty doe with the
moonlight shining down on her, was the breath-taking Eva-Marie. She held her
hands up in a surrendering gesture with a slight smile on her face. “Don’t
worry, I come waving the white flag.”
               
Instinctively, a grin spread across my face. An actual, genuine grin. Funny I
had forgotten how that felt. “As do I,” I said to her.
               
She reached me and looked down on me with her deep eyes. “May I sit?” Eva-Marie
looked at me hopefully.
               
I nodded and patted the grass next to me.
               
She exhaled loudly as she sat down and handed me a bottle before twisting her
own open. “David, David, David. What’s going on?” Her tone made it obvious she
was talking about the situation between us.
               
I sighed. “Look Eva-Marie –”
               
“Please, call me Eva. The only person that calls me Eva-Marie is my father and
that’s mostly when he’s angry.” She shook her head.
               
These females and their names. “Eva,” I corrected.
               
She nodded with a sweet smile. “Yes, Mr. Finley?”
               
“For everything that has happened between us, everything that I’ve said to
you…and called you, I am genuinely sorry. As you can see I tried to apologize
at the city club and let my temper get in the way, and I’m sorry I acted that
way in front of you.” I looked over at her but she wasn’t looking at me. She
was staring out into the field and smiling and nodding while she took a sip
from her bottle.
               
“I accept your apology Mr. Finley,” Eva looked at me and smiled. “As I
should’ve that day at the city club…had you given me the chance before blowing
up on me.” She began giggling.
               
“What’s so funny?” I was slightly laughing myself, realizing her laughs and
smiles were quite contagious.
               
“You were just like a…grumpy old man.” She let out her heavenly laughter. “All
I could think was that constant fuming was gonna give
you an early aneurism!”
               
I laughed and shook my head. “I can’t argue with you