Chapter 19

Lou took the bowl of green beans Rachel handed her then turned to put it on the table. She stopped with the bowl in mid air as the door to the bunkhouse was opened. She'd been dreading the moment when Kid would come back and realize Jimmy was here. It was easy to know he'd figure it out the moment he went to put Katy in the barn and saw Sundancer in his old stall.

She took a breath upon seeing Buck enter. She watched him go straight to Jimmy to shake hands then get introduced to Charlie. She knew Buck had been upset by Jimmy's quick departure last month, as well, but after some quiet words amongst themselves, Buck's smile returned to his face.

Lou quickly put the bowl down on the table and stood waiting, wondering if she'd need both hands to restrain her husband if he got all riled up at the sight of Jimmy sitting at the table. She had tried on more than one occasion to get Kid to talk about what had transpired between he and Jimmy during their last argument but Kid wouldn't divulge anything. Lou just had the feeling that Kid was more upset by something Jimmy said, as opposed to him not taking Kid's advice concerning Rosemary.

Listening carefully, she heard footsteps out on the porch then they stopped. Nervously, she glanced at Jimmy, aware that he'd heard the same sound as her. In the next moment the man she loved more than anything slowly made his way through the doorway.

Kid and Buck had hurried back to the way station, knowing Rachel would be mad if they were late for supper. They quickly set about unsaddling then brushing down their horses. It was when Kid went to put Katy in her stall that he saw the two extra horses in the barn. He just stared at Sundancer, wondering what it meant that Jimmy was back in town. He didn't think Jimmy would want to start up their fighting again but Kid couldn't be sure these days what was going through his former best friend's mind.

Kid watched Buck enter the bunkhouse while he hung back. He didn't want to get into it with Jimmy again, besides, it wasn't even an issue anymore - Rosemary was out of the picture. Kid just didn't want Jimmy to think that he appeared smug that he had known it wouldn't work and he was still angry that Jimmy had said some things about Lou that he never should have. He also knew how much it upset Lou to see the two of them at each other's throats - it wouldn't be good for her to get worried over something that shouldn't be an issue anyway. Better to get it over with, he thought, so he entered the bunkhouse.

He looked around the table, spotting a blonde man he didn't recognize before his eyes fell on the ex-rider. He looked to Lou for reassurance before speaking. "Jimmy."

Jimmy had met his eyes and knew by the firm set to Kid's jaw that this was going to be harder than he thought it would be. He'd have to play it carefully or he was afraid Kid wouldn't hang around to find out the true reason he was back in town.

"Hey, Kid. How's it going?" Jimmy tried to ask casually, though he was sure he sounded nervous.

"Things are real good," Kid answered, nodding his head a few more times than was necessary but he couldn't seem to stop the action. Finally he went to Lou, put his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. Feeling Jimmy's eyes on him, he asked, "How about you?"

"Just tryin' to get used to workin' in a big city mostly." Jimmy then introduced Charlie to the Kid.

Charlie shook the man's hand then watched him sit on the other side of the table and wait for his wife to join him. The Indian had seemed nice enough, not that he had a lot of Indian acquaintances to judge him against. But this guy was a mystery: one minute he was trying to ignore Jimmy then the next he was giving him a hard, cold look. And after that, he was looking at him like he'd lost his best friend. Maybe that was just an expression but it seemed to fit the bill perfectly here.

The one good thing about this place, though, was that Mrs. Dunne was probably as good a cook as Mrs. Cain. Charlie eagerly dove into the bowls of food. The others did the same, as each person concentrated a little too hard on filling their plates. The only noise he heard was the sound of spoons scraping the sides of the bowls in everyone's haste to get the food from bowl to plate then into their mouths - a mouth full of food being the ultimate prevention against having to make idle chit-chat.

"Well I see everyone's gettin' reacquainted," a booming voice from the doorway declared.

Greetings were called out to Teaspoon as he came in and took his customary seat at the head of the table. "Somethin' smells mighty fine in here!" he said, rubbing his hands together. He took one look around the table at the serious faces and immediately saw that the tension in the room was thicker than molasses so he said, "It's a good thing you boys done cleaned yourselves up properly or I wouldn't have been able to smell this good food at all."

The ex-riders and Charlie looked at one another then not being able to hold it back, finally burst out in laughter. Rachel smiled and patted the crazy old coot on the shoulder. Leave it to Teaspoon to break the ice.

After that, it became a little easier to talk, though mostly it was about their exploits during the Express, since that was a safe topic. Kid and Jimmy both deliberately avoided anything that happened immediately before and right after the wedding and only talked about the early days being together.

After the meal was done, Lou helped Rachel clear the table as Kid and Jimmy started fidgeting again. Teaspoon noticed so he decided to do something about it. "So, Jimmy did you go into detail yet as to why you and Charlie are here? Didn't you say you wouldn't talk about it until everyone was together?" He paused, giving Jimmy an innocent look, knowing full well why he was there. "Could have sworn that's what you told me before," he mumbled loud enough for the others to hear.

Jimmy threw his old boss an annoyed look, even though he was really more nervous than annoyed. "Yeah, thanks, Teaspoon, but I wouldn't have forgotten to say anything. I was just waiting until everyone was done eating is all," he lied. During the course of the meal, Jimmy had ran over what he was going to say more than a dozen times but now that Teaspoon had directed Kid, Buck and Lou's attention his way, he couldn't remember one thing he had come up with.

"Why are you here, Jimmy?" Buck finally asked.

"It's kinda work related," Jimmy began. "We're due to meet up with Sam and go after the Flemington gang."

"The Flemington gang?" Kid asked. "I was in Lincoln a few days ago, the same day they shot and killed the bank president. The Express office told me Sam was on his way there."

"We're supposed to meet him halfway between here and there," Jimmy said, nodding that Kid was right with his information. "Sam said the judge instantly issued a dead or alive warrant for the gang's arrest, now that a witness lived to correctly identify the gang."

"I'm grateful you'll be going after them before they can cause more hurt to innocent people," Rachel said, having heard the stories about the gang on recent trips into town. Even though this was the first time they'd actually killed anyone, the gang members were no strangers to threats and shooting to wound. Now she would have to worry about Jimmy being out there, coming up against those men. Him and Charlie, she would worry about the younger man too; she liked him even though they'd just met. He reminded her of Cody, annoying yet lovable at the same time.

Lou had listened to Jimmy explain about the gang but couldn't stop a nagging voice in her head telling her to be nosy and get all the details. So, before realizing it, she reached in front of Jimmy for his plate and asked, "If the gang's not in this immediate area then why are you?" She bit her lip as she realized she sounded like she was accusing him of something. She gave Kid a guilty then apologetic look as he quickly gave her a warning glance to not cause anymore trouble than was sure to surface before Jimmy left anyway.

Jimmy noticed the tone to Lou's question and knew that she might get mad at him for what he was about to do but this was the only way he knew of to let Kid know what the other man meant to him. Clearing his voice, and not looking at anyone, he quietly answered, "I'm here 'cause I needed to ask Buck ... and Kid somethin' important." He slowly raised his eyes to look into the blue pair across the table from him.