"Dinner's ready!" Rachel cried from inside and they all filed slowly inside the bunkhouse again.

Teaspoon waited until the end of the meal before he spoke. "Boys, Lou..." he started. Rachel glanced his way and she could read in his old eyes what he was about to tell them. "Buck ain't on no special run to Laramie," he said and waited for the news to sink in before he continued.

"Then where is he?" Jimmy asked. He had expected to hear this.

"Buck's. Buck's left."

Teaspoon looked up and read the shock on their faces, wishing he knew a better way to tell them. A less painful way.

"Left?" Kid asked thoughtfully.

"'Fraid so. He didn't want me to tell you, but it's time you learn the truth."

"What do ya mean he didn't want you to tell us?!" Jimmy was furious, his eyes glowing with anger when he looked at Teaspoon.

"He didn't want you trackin' him down, and you won't. Y'hear?"

Kid swallowed and Lou stared at her plate. Jimmy was stirring uncomfortably and glanced outside.

"Why did ya have to wait 'til after dark?" he asked finally.

"You ain't followin' him, Jimmy. You'll never find him," Teaspoon said.

Jimmy finally accepted the facts and bit his lip. Lou was the next to speak.

"Why?" she asked and looked up above her glasses that were sitting low on her nose. "Why did he leave without sayin' nothin'?"

"I don't know," Teaspoon sighed and looked at Rachel for help. She too was clueless. "There's somethin' botherin' him, and I don't know what. But I do know he won't come back until he can sort that somethin' out," he explained.

"He ain't comin' back," Jimmy's now calm voice carried across the table and echoed in all their heads.

"How can you be so sure?" Lou asked; her eyes boring into his like knifes.

"He knows we'd give him hell if he did," Jimmy said and looked up from his empty plate. "We ain't gonna see more of him."

Cami couldn't breathe. Her heart was beating fast and uncontrollably in her chest, making her almost wheeze for air. The walls of Thompkins store were closing in on her; suffocating her. Her head was spinning and she could barely stand straight anymore, her right hand gripping a shelf beside her. Had she heard right? Were those pony express riders really making sense? Had Buck really left town forever?

No. She couldn't accept it. Never. Never ever. Buck hadn't left, he just hadn't been in town for a week or so. Sure that was the only truth. He hadn't left. How could he?

She felt sick to her stomach and wanted to crumble on the floor, screaming for him to come back and hold her. She knew even through the shock that she would never see him again; she just refused to accept it as the truth. It couldn't be! Her sister watched her grip her skirt and run out of the store, without a single word to explain why.

"Cami?" she spoke a second too late.