Page 14 of October’s Cowboy Beau

“Nothing. I got it.” She looked at the screen, then back at me. “That was good.”

“It was just an answer.”

“It can be both.”

I let that go and finished with Gus.

Once the team was harnessed, I led them to the old freight wagon under the side shed. I backed Hank and Gus in on either side of the tongue and hooked them up.

Caroline walked around the wagon and stopped at the lettering. “How old is this, really? And don’t say older than you again.”

“It’s from the early nineteen hundreds.”

“And it belonged to your family?”

“Still does.”

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “You know what I mean.”

“My great-grandfather hauled stuff with it. Feed, equipment, freight between ranches. Whatever paid.”

Caroline lifted her phone but didn’t start recording. “This should be in the heritage display. With some context.”

“It’s a wagon.”

“It’s a wagon that was working here more than a hundred years ago.”

I leaned against the wheel. “People know what a wagon is.”

“People like knowing why something belongs here. If we can tell them who used it and what it carried, they’ll care about it.”

I understood what she meant. I just didn’t see why anybody needed a sign for a wagon that had always been sitting in my barn. We used what still worked. We fixed what broke. We didn’t spend much time talking about it.

“Do you have any records from back then?” she asked.

“Probably.”

She turned around fast enough that I knew I should’ve kept that to myself. Word in town was Rachel had been asking around for old files. I hadn’t said anything about the boxes to anybody. Caroline got it out of me in one morning.

“Probably?”

“My granddad kept everything. Hauling logs, bills. There are boxes in the office.”

“Have you looked through them?”

“No. I’ve never had a reason to.” Or the desire. I didn’t want my family’s history being dragged into the spotlight. It wasn’t that I had anything to hide. I just hated being the center of attention.

“I’m not asking you to dig them out today.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Thanks for clarifying.”

“But if there’s something that tells us where this wagon went, that would be great for the display.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“That sounds like a no.” Her lips pursed.

I should’ve been annoyed. Instead, I caught myself looking at her mouth. “It means I’ll keep it in mind.”