Page 24 of October’s Cowboy Beau

“Do you ever take them out when you don’t have somewhere to be?”

“Hank and Gus?”

“No, Beau. Your invisible miniature horses.”

I smiled. “Not very often.”

“That surprises me. You have all this. I figured you’d take advantage of it.”

“There’s usually work to do.”

“You’re always working.”

“So are you,” I said.

“That’s different.”

“How?”

She started to answer, then stopped. I waited.

“I like what I do,” she said. “I like walking into something that isn’t working and figuring it out. Three days before an event, everybody thinks it’s going to fall apart. Then the doors open and it looks like it was always supposed to happen that way.”

“And afterward?”

She didn’t hesitate. “I leave.”

“Where do you go?”

“Wherever the next job is.”

“Is that what you want?”

Her gaze met mine. “I just told you I like it.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

She looked forward again. “I’m good at leaving. I know how to finish the paperwork, hand over the files, and go. My apartment just holds my things between jobs.”

Sounded pretty damn lonely to me. “Do you ever stay anywhere long enough to miss it?”

She got quiet. The hoofbeats stayed steady on the pavement while she rubbed her thumb along the edge of the blanket.

“Sometimes I miss people,” she said.

“Again, not what I asked.”

“I know.”

I didn’t push. I couldn’t, not when I didn’t know what I wanted her answer to be.

We pulled into the staging area and stopped next to the trailer. I set the brake, climbed down, and came around to her side.

She looked at the step.

“It’s safe,” I said.

“I’m holding you responsible if it isn’t.”