Page 48 of Ironwood Ranch Cowboys

Fence line.

Evening.

My father’s glove in one hand.

I’m turned slightly away from the camera, looking toward the north boundary, jaw set, posture angled forward, bracing against something that hasn’t shown itself yet.

“When did you take this?”

Annie goes still. “The other evening.”

“Why?”

She shrugs once, but there’s care in it. “Because the light was good. Because you looked like part of the ranch instead of the man trying to control it.”

The words land somewhere I don’t have language for fast enough to defend against them.

I study the image again.

She’s right.

There’s no performance in it. No authority or projection of certainty. Just the shape of a man carrying too much and not putting any of it down.

Most people don’t see that version of me because I make sure they don’t.

Annie saw it anyway.

“That one’s not for public use,” I say.

Her mouth curves faintly. “Noted.”

She clicks forward again.

The shots get stranger the longer she goes. Better, too. Details I would never think to isolate and yet recognize instantly once she does.

A coil of rope against red barn wood. Rainwater gathered in the shallow dent of a metal trough. Boot prints crossing in dust.

Duke’s guitar left against the kitchen wall with morning light hitting the strings. Cody’s color-coded tabs spread over a ledger, a mind turned inside out.

A horse mid-turn, eyes bright, movement blurred just enough to look alive rather than still.

I become aware, slowly and inconveniently, of how close I’m standing to her.

Close enough to smell her shampoo. Vanilla and rain. Close enough to hear the soft click of her nails against the trackpad.

Close enough that if she leaned back half an inch, her shoulder would hit my hand.

I step back.

“You’re good,” I say. The words come out rougher than intended.

Annie looks up at me, skepticism already loaded. “That sounded painful for you.”

“It was a true statement.”

“From you, that counts as glowing.”

I ignore that. “How long have you been shooting seriously?”