However, she was drawing a complete blank. In fact, she was positive that there wasn’t anything else that happened after that. She was getting tired again, probably from concentrating so hard, and just wanted to fall asleep. Couldn’t they simply tell her what had happened and let her take a nap?
“Sorry, I don’t.” Caroline shrugged, then yawned. “The last thing I remember was reaching for that binder on the top shelf.”
It was then that a second man walked into the room and Caroline’s breath caught as he took off his cowboy hat and ran a golden hand through his black, close-cropped hair.
Her entire body eased back onto the bed and she smiled in relief, everything finally making sense. “Oh, there you are.”
“So you know him?” the doctor asked, jerking a thumb to the newcomer.
“Of course,” Caroline said, then blinked slowly as the pillow cradled her head. “That’s my fiancé.”
* * *
Her fiancé?
Craig’s head whipped around to the hallway behind him. But nobody else was there. He opened his mouth to tell the doctor that he’d never even met this woman, but nothing came out. The air had been sucked out of his lungs, and probably out of the entire room, judging by the equally confused expressions on everyone else’s faces.
Caroline’s head injury must be more serious than they’d originally thought if she was babbling incoherent randomness. Scratch that. Her statement had been clear and articulate, but it made absolutely no sense. Nor did the way she was looking at him, her doe-shaped brown eyes all dreamy and her wide lips parted in a hazy smile as though he was the only one in the room, or at least the only person who mattered. It was the same look Tina had given him before she’d died, and the comparison made his blood go cold.
Caroline looked nothing like his high school sweetheart, but Craig’s memory had already been triggered, and that rush of helplessness filled his veins the same way it had all those years ago when they’d been trapped on the highway, waiting for the rescue workers to pry them out of the wreckage. He would’ve looked to Drew or Josselyn for an answer, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from Caroline.
Logically, he knew he wasn’t reliving that awful night nearly fifteen years ago, but when Caroline’s eyes finally drifted closed, Craig raced to her bedside and grabbed her hand as though he alone could will her back to consciousness.
“She’ll be fine,” the ER doctor told him with a gentle pat on the shoulder, a move likely designed to reassure loved ones. No doubt, it had worked for the doc countless times in the past. The only difference in this situation was that Craig didn’t know the current patient, let alone love her.
“But I’m not—” Craig started and Dr. Robinson interrupted him.
“Let’s step into the hallway where we can talk.” The physician’s reassuring pat turned into a firm nudge as she steered him toward the nurses’ station.
Craig turned back toward his friends, who were slowly following them. Josselyn’s mouth was slightly open and there were a few squiggly creases between her eyebrows while Drew simply stared in concern as though Craig had been the one to hit his head and get the sense knocked out of him.
Not that Craig could blame the guy. There might be plenty of reasons why Caroline accidentally called him her fiancé, but there was absolutely no explanation for his intense emotional reaction to someone who was a total stranger.
While it was already embarrassing that the others saw him respond like that, it would be even more confusing and downright mortifying to explain what prompted him to run to her side and clutch her hand as though she was dying.
Despite the couple approaching, Dr. Robinson faced Craig and directed most of the information his way. Something about a concussion and needing consent for a CT scan to rule out any long-term damage. “My recommendation is to run a few more tests and then have her stay overnight for observation. Does your fiancée have any other family members we should notify or can you authorize consent?”
“She’s not my fiancée.” The words finally tumbled out of Craig’s mouth in a rush as he tugged on the collar of his work shirt. “In fact, I’ve never met her before.”
“Well, she certainly lit up when you came in the room,” Dr. Robinson replied, one hand on her hip as though she wasn’t buying Craig’s version of the situation. “I didn’t even need to shine my light in her eyes when I was examining her because her pupils contracted and focused on you like you were the be-all and end-all.”
“I promise I’ve never seen her before today. Right?” Craig shot a pleading look toward Drew for confirmation. “I have no idea why she would think we knew each other, let alone that we’re engaged. Maybe I resemble her real fiancé and the concussion just has her brain rattled?”
“I’m pretty sure she’s single.” Josselyn finally spoke up and Craig felt the oxygen slowly return to his lungs. “We’ve only talked a handful of times, but she’s never mentioned a significant other. Plus, she doesn’t have an engagement ring.”
At first Craig was filled with a sort of vindication from the proof that he wasn’t her fiancé. However, that was soon replaced by utter bafflement. “Then why would she imagine herself being in a serious relationship at all?”
“Maybe she has amnesia?” Josselyn suggested.
“I suppose that’s possible.” Drew turned down one corner of his mouth, his expression suggesting that it wasn’t possible at all. “However, she had full recollection of all the events leading up to her fall.”
“It could be confabulation.” Dr. Robinson now spoke to Drew, her voice lowered as she threw out phrases such as memory production and cognitive distortion and something else Craig couldn’t quite make out.
“Hmm.” Drew nodded. “I’ve read case studies, but have never seen it manifested in a patient.”
Craig rolled his eyes. “Do you think you guys could use some layman terms for us nondoctors?”
“Confabulation is similar to amnesia in that it’s a memory disturbance. It can happen when there is some type of damage to the brain. Caroline seems to remember almost everything leading up to her injury, but to fill in the gaps on what she doesn’t know, her mind has invented a story to explain it.”
Oh, boy. He should’ve stayed in Thunder Canyon this week. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Craig asked, “But why would she need to make up a lie about being engaged?”
“It’s not a lie.” Dr. Robinson shook her head. “To her, it’s very real.”
“Okay, so then we just tell her that she doesn’t know me and that she doesn’t have a fiancé and she’s good to go.” He slapped his palms together as though it were that simple. And it would’ve been if Craig had been speaking to the vet out on the ranch. Cows and horses never had issues like this.
Dr. Robinson shared another look with Drew before answering. “In theory, we would always recommend telling a patient the truth. But in this case, she hit her forehead, where the frontal lobe is encased, and that makes it hard for her to retrieve and evaluate memories. So in instances of confabulation, it doesn’t matter what you say. Her brain is in a fragile state right now and will only be able to understand what her frontal lobe is telling her.”
“How long does this last?” Craig folded his arms across his chest and looked longingly toward the ER exit doors. “I mean, do I actually have to pretend to be her fiancé?”
“I’m sure Dr. Robinson doesn’t want you to pretend to be anything,” Drew offered, looking at his watch.
“No, of course not. I’m simply recommending