Kimberly stumbled out of the post office into the bright sunlight. Her shaking fingers held on to the letter so tight that her knuckles were whiter than normal. As soon as she had received word that there was a letter waiting for her, she had instinctively known whom it was from, the handwriting just confirmed her suspicions.

She was just passing the livery stables, when she felt a sudden urge to get away. Before she knew it, she was helped up onto a buggy by Samantha and given quick instructions.

As the horse moved forward, Kimberly put a hand inside her purse and felt relief as her fingers touched the cold glass. She looked around her, the horse was trotting steadily on and she sat numbly on the seat as tree�s, houses and fields passed by. She didn�t have a particular destination in mind. The buggy just kept moving forward. Suddenly she veered off to the right and pulled to a halt.

Kimberly jumped off the cart, "This�ll do," she said as she patted the horse on the nose. After being unhitched the horse was led to a stream which ran nearby. She then returned to the buggy, retrieved her bag and sat down among the trees. As she opened her letter she began to cry.

Some three hours later, Kimberly still sat in the same spot. The letter that had been clutched so tightly in her fingers had been replaced by the familiar feel of the cold hard glass of a bottle. She laughed angrily at herself as she leaned up against the tree

How could I let this happen again?

It was not the first time that she had asked herself this. She wasn�t paying any attention to the things around her, so it wasn�t surprising that she hadn�t noticed an approaching horse or the sound of someone dismounting behind her. Kimberly jumped in fright when she heard a familiar voice directed towards her.

"Hey Kimberly, I didn�t expect to find you out here. Got sick of the saloon huh?"

"Just leave me alone Jimmy," she answered thickly.

"Hey what�s wrong" he asked, obviously concerned.

"Nothin jus go, okay!" Kimberly mumbled.

The voice that answered him was not the voice that belonged to the well-articulated girl that he had met recently. He was curious about what was wrong, so he knelt down in front of her. Jimmy�s eyes fell on the bottle, which was grasped, between her hands. He reached out for it angrily.

"What are you doing with this!" he growled as he wrestled it from Kimberly�s grip

"None of your business, now give it back," she made a clumsy grab for it.

Jimmy shook his head at her and tipped the bottle upside down, emptying the meager fluid onto the dusty ground.

Kimberly shakily pulled herself to her feet, "How dare you! I told you to leave me alone," she screamed and slammed a fist into his stomach.

Jimmy gasped for air and stared defiantly back, "I�m not leaving you like this, I don�t know what you might do!"

"I want you to go," she demanded, firmly concentrating on each word.

Jimmy looked at the defiant young woman, "Even when you�re drunk, you�re stubborn! I don�t care what you want. I�m not going and that�s that."

Kimberly looked helplessly around her then she sunk back to the ground. She buried her head on her knees and started to cry again.

Jimmy sat down beside her, not knowing what else to do. The girl before him was weeping her eyes out, and he felt somewhat inadequate to handle the situation.

He touched her on the shoulder, "Look it can�t be that bad, sometimes it helps to talk."

Kimberly wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I don�t want to talk. Oh my god, I�m going to be sick," she clumsily got up and stumbled behind a tree trunk.

Jimmy followed and knelt down behind her, holding her hair out of her face and rubbing her back.

"I can�t think of anything less dignifying than this!" Kimberly moaned as she started to get up.

Jimmy grinned at her, "Actually, neither can I!"

Kimberly rolled her eyes and gave him a light punch on the arm.

"You know what Kim? I wouldn�t want to get on the wrong side of you, you actually pack a pretty good punch,"

�"Hmm, I�ll keep that in mind," she said as she leaned back onto Jimmy�s shoulder.

Jimmy gave her a nudge, "Are you going to tell me what�s wrong now?"

"This is what�s wrong," she said as she handed him the somewhat crumpled letter.

"Why don�t you just tell me what�s in it? I don�t feel right reading other people�s mail. I guess I�m too used to being a Pony Express rider," Jimmy said as he turned the letter around in his hands.

Kimberly sighed, "It�s from Gerald. I met him some years ago, and we ended up running away together. His father said that if I never saw him again, he�d give me some money. I was desperate and sick of running. I accepted the money and used it to buy the saloon.

But now Gerald�s found me, he wants me to go back with him, but I can�t face him again, I can�t. I�ve finally found somewhere I belong. I don�t want to go back there."

Jimmy gave her a pat on her arm, "Well, don�t then"

"It�s not just that. I thought I�d hidden away all those memories. Now they�re back out on the surface again. Oh I don�t know what to do," Kimberly poked at the ground with a stick she�d picked up.

Jimmy took her stick from her, snapped it and gave her half of it back. "A wise man told me once that a problem shared is a problem halved"

"Hmmm, well I hate to admit it, but I guess that wise man was right," Kimberly flashed him a smile.

"You know what Kim?" He asked as he pulled her to her feet.

"What?" She wondered suspiciously?

"You should smile more often."

Kimberly grinned as they went off in the direction of the stream, looking for the stray horse.

"Well, I seem to have been smiling rather a lot, a lot more than I did before I came here. I used to be such a grump!"

Jimmy laughed "Used to be???"

"Remember what you said about my punches Jimmy! It must be this town. It changes people. I look back at who I was before I came here and I just don�t know how I lived with myself."

"Surely you weren�t that bad," Jimmy had gotten a hold of the missing horse, who until that moment had been happily grazing near the stream.

"Oh I was, the townsfolk crossed the street when I went by, just to avoid me," Kimberly grimaced at the memory.

Jimmy stopped to look at her. "Well it doesn�t matter anymore. This is a different town. From what I�ve heard, if you walked down the street here, they�d be crossing it to meet you."

Kimberly smiled back at him, then turned to the sound of approaching horse hooves.

The small figure on the horse called out to them, "Hey Jimmy, been looking everywhere for yer, did you forget you had a run this afternoon?"

Jimmy looked down at his feet, "Uh, no Lou I didn�t forget, just had some other stuff to do."

"Uhuh," she said, looking over to where Kimberly stood.

Jimmy rolled his eyes at Lou, "Well I spose I better be going then. I�ll cya later Kim."

"Yeah, okay, Oh, and thanks," Kimberly said as she watched him go over to the other horse.

Jimmy went to Lightning where Lou sat, "Can you do me a favor, Lou?" Jimmy said quietly.

Lou looked back at Kimberly, "Hmmm well that depends on what it is?"

"Well, can you just make sure she gets back okay? She�s a little unsteady on her feet, and might need a little help to get back to town."

"Jimmy! I�m not going to escort your date back to town!" Lou exclaimed.

"Look, she�s not my date, just a friend that�s all."

Lou didn�t look convinced.

Jimmy whined at her again, "Oh come on, please??"

Lou finally relented "Alright! Fine, I was thinkin about going into town anyway."

"Thank you Lou, I owe you one," Jimmy said as he mounted up and started to head off.

Lou grinned back at him, "I�ll keep that in mind."

Lou jumped off Lightning and started to hitch up the other horse to the cart.

"You don�t really have to do that," Kimberly said as she came up behind her.

Lou looked at the girl, her red hair was tangled and messy and her face was blotchy. It was obvious she had been crying. "It�s okay. I was heading in that direction anyway."

"That�s a relief. I didn�t pay much attention to where I was going," she said as she stumbled over a rock.

Lou grinned as the girl picked herself up, "Guess you weren�t paying attention then either."

"Clumsiness is a way of life for me, not a very dignified one though," laughed Kimberly as she tried to pick off the leaves from her skirt.

Lou stuck her hand out to the pretty girl, "I�m Lou."

Kim took the hand Lou offered, "Hi, I�m Kimberly"

"Come on then, I�ve got to be back before dark," Lou said as she clicked the horses into motion. They were soon heading back along the paths into town.