Red Lily

palms sprang damp, and her breath seemed to rattle in her throat.
    She turned the corner of the building, following the sound, prepared to be terrified and amazed.
    And saw Harper, his T-shirt stripped off and tossed to the ground, digging a hole.
    The letdown had the breath expelling from her lungs in a frantic whoosh.
    “Harper, for Christ’s sake, you scared me brainless. What are you doing?”
    He continued to spear the blade of the shovel into the ground, tossing the dirt into the pile beside it. Though she was still jittery, she cast her eyes skyward, then marched to him.
    “I said—” He jumped a clean foot off the ground when she poked a finger in his back. And even as she yelped in response, he whirled, cocking the shovel over his shoulder like a bat. He managed to check his swing, cursed a blue streak as she stumbled back and fell hard on her ass.
    “Jesus, God almighty!” He dragged the headset down to his shoulders. “What the hell are you doing, sneaking around in the dark?”
    “I didn’t sneak, I called you. If you didn’t play that headset so loud you could hear a person when they said something. I thought you were going to brain me with that shovel. I thought . . .”
    She began to giggle, tried to snuff it back. “You should’veseen your face. Your eyes were this big.” She held up her hands, curling her fingers into wide balls, then dissolved into laughter when he snarled at her.
    “Oh, oh, I’m going to wet my pants. Wait.” She squeezed her eyes, bounced quickly in place while more giggles bubbled. “Okay, okay, back in control. The least you could do is help me up after you knocked me down.”
    “I didn’t knock you down. Damn near though.” He offered a hand, pulled her up.
    “I thought you were Reginald, digging Amelia’s untimely grave.”
    Shaking his head, he leaned on the shovel and stared at her. “So you came on around to what, give him a hand?”
    “Well, I had to see, didn’t I? What in the world are you doing, digging a hole out here in the dark?”
    “It’s not dark.”
    “You said it was dark when you yelled at me. What are you doing?”
    “Playing third base for the Atlanta Braves.”
    “I don’t see why you’re being pissy. I’m the one who fell down and nearly wet her pants.”
    “Sorry. Did you hurt yourself?”
    “No. You planting that tree?” She finally focused in on the slim, young willow. “Why are you planting a tree, Harper, back here and at this time of night?”
    “It’s for Mama. She told me this story today, about how she snuck out of the house to meet my father one night, and that they sat under a willow that used to be back here, and talked. That’s when she fell in love with him. The next day it got hit by lightning. Amelia,” he said and dug out another shovelful of dirt. “She didn’t put it together before, but you’ve got to figure the odds. So I’m putting one in for her.”
    She stood silently for a moment while he eyeballed the hole, then the rootball, then dug some more.

    “That’s the sweetest thing. That just coats my heart with sweetness, Harper. Can I help, or is it something you want to do alone?”
    “Hole’s about right. You can help me put it in.”
    “I never planted a tree before.”
    “See, you want the hole about three times as wide as the rootball, but no deeper. Get the sides of the hole loose so the roots have room to spread.”
    He picked up the tree, set it in the hole. “How’s that look to you?”
    “It looks right, like you said.”
    “Now you peel the burlap back, from the main stem, then we’ll see the original soil line, at least we will if you turn on that flashlight over there, because it is getting dark. Took me a while to get everything I needed for this.”
    She turned it on, crouched down and aimed. “How’s that?”
    “Good. See?” He tapped a finger on the mark at the base. “That’s the soil line, and we’ve got the right depth here. We’ve just got a little bit of roots that need pruning off. Hand me those.”
    She got the clippers, passed them to him. “You know digging a hole for a tree sounds the same as digging a grave.”
    He flicked her a look. “Have you ever heard anybody digging a grave?”
    “In movies.”
    “Right. We’re going to fill the hole, but we do it little by little and firm the soil down as we do. I don’t have any spare gloves. Here.”
    “No.” She waved him back when he started to pull off his work gloves. “A little dirt