The Maverick's Christmas To Remember. Christy Jeffries

      “But I’m not—”

      Dr. Robinson held up her palm. “I was kidding. When she wakes up again, we can get her verbal consent. But is there anybody else we should notify in the meantime? Anyone else who can give us a better medical history?”

      All eyes turned toward Josselyn again. “I looked through her purse, but I couldn’t find her cell phone. I heard back from Vivienne earlier, and she confirmed that Caroline’s parents are out of the country right now on some sort of teaching sabbatical and she doesn’t remember her mentioning any friends or family nearby. I would hate to leave her here all alone. What if she wakes up and is confused again?”

      “Obviously, we can’t leave her here alone,” Craig said.

      Drew looked at his watch a second time. “I have to get back to Rust Creek Falls before my son gets out of school.”

      “I’d stay, but I have to speak at the city council meeting this evening to ask for extra funding for the elementary school library. If I miss it, I’ll have to wait another month to get my proposal approved.”

      “Maybe I’ll call Ben and ask...” Drew started.

      “No way,” Craig said, shaking his head before his friend could even finish the thought. “I can stick around.”

       Chapter Three

      The words had flown out of Craig’s mouth before they’d had a chance to logically form in his brain. Not because his skin itched with jealousy at the mention of another man staying with Caroline when she was this vulnerable, but because Craig hadn’t been able to shake this sense of responsibility for her since he’d seen her slipping off that chair. If he tried to explain this impulse, it wouldn’t make sense to his friends. Hell, it didn’t even make sense to him.

      “I mean, if I’m her... I...uh...mean...if Caroline thinks I’m her fiancé, then obviously she’ll be expecting me to be here when she wakes up. I wouldn’t want to make things worse. And it’s not like it’s a big deal,” Craig added, more for his own benefit than to convince his friends. “I’m not really doing anything else today.”

      It was true. The late fall season was the slowest time on his family’s ranch because they’d already sent their latest herds to market and didn’t plan to start breeding the new calves until after the new year. He was in Rust Creek Falls to visit two of his brothers and to check in with some of the other local ranchers for what his dad referred to as “old-fashioned market research.”

      Josselyn frowned. “I’m not sure if it would be in Caroline’s best interest to let her continue thinking that you two are really engaged. After all, she’ll get her memory back eventually, won’t she?”

      Dr. Robinson lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Like I said, we’ll know more after her tests. I’d feel better holding off on any treatment plan or official diagnosis just yet, but if it is confabulation strictly caused by a brain injury and not caused by a mental health issue or dementia, then this memory setback likely won’t last too long. With all that being said, while I wouldn’t advocate lying to a patient, I don’t necessarily see any harm in letting them believe in whatever is going to give them a sense of peace for the time being. Our biggest goal right now is to keep Caroline as calm and relaxed as possible.”

      Drew looked at his watch again. “Are you sure you want to stay, Craig?”

      “I don’t want to,” Craig clarified, more for himself than for anyone else listening. “But if it’s the easiest solution and it will keep Caroline calm so that she can heal, then I’ll do it.”

      There, that sounded plausible enough, even to his own ears. After several more rounds of “Are you sure?” followed by Craig’s growing insistence, he eventually found himself sitting on the miserable plastic chair beside her bed in the exam room, drinking cold coffee and scrolling on his smartphone for the latest feed and grain reports. It wasn’t the same as getting out to the other ranches and talking directly to his fellow cattlemen, but he couldn’t just blow off all his work duties to sit around playing nurse.

      Normally, he rarely used the device except for making calls and often told his brothers that any cattleman worth his salt didn’t rely on fancy gadgets that could easily get busted working on the ranch. If Craig was in the field and needed information off the internet, he usually just asked his brother Rob or waited until he could use the computer at the house. However, now that their father had been bitten with the technology bug and insisted on sending group texts with links to online articles, Craig found himself a reluctant user.

      “Do you think I could have one of your Life Savers?” Caroline’s soft voice was so unexpected that Craig dropped his phone, its reinforced hard-shell case preventing the screen from cracking on the tile floor.

      “Huh?” Craig asked, then wanted to kick himself for sounding like such a dope.

      “One of your Life Savers.” Caroline pointed to the front pocket of his shirt, where he always stashed a roll of his favorite cherry-flavored candy.

      His chin dropped toward the empty pocket. Okay, now that was weird. He’d had less than half a roll when he’d left his brother’s house this morning and then had nervously plowed through the rest of them by the time Caroline had undergone her MRI. Since she’d never been conscious during any of the times he’d popped one into his mouth, there was no way for her to be aware of his little sugar habit.

      “How do you know about my Life Savers?” he asked, trying his best not to completely disregard the doctor’s instructions about keeping Caroline calm.

      “You always have them,” she replied, her smile all dreamy again and his insides responding the same way they had the last time she’d woken up and grinned at him. “Plus, you smell like cherries.”

      Craig let out the breath he’d been holding, mildly relieved with the second part of her explanation. “Do you know who I am?”

      Caroline’s smooth forehead pinched into several lines as she studied him. Thinking that maybe she’d lost a pair of glasses in the fall and couldn’t see his face clearly, Craig leaned closer as intense concentration took over her expression. She opened her pouty bow-shaped lips several times before defeat filled her eyes. “I don’t know why I can’t think of your name.”

      “It’s Craig,” he replied, wanting to pump his fist in celebration. Not that he should be basking in her confusion, but if she didn’t know his name, then she’d finally realized that he was actually a complete stranger. That meant that her amnesia spell or confabulation—or whatever it was—had finally passed and she no longer needed him to take care of her. He extended his hand as he introduced himself. “I’m Craig Clifton.”

      Caroline inhaled deeply through her nose as she nodded. But instead of taking his proffered handshake, she laced her fingers through his. “Of course you are. I must’ve hit my head pretty hard to forget my own fiancé’s name.”

      * * *

      Poor Craig looked about as confused as Caroline felt. It must be difficult for him to see the woman he loved like this. But then again, at least he wasn’t the one who’d completely forgotten most of the specifics about the person he was supposed to be marrying. Hopefully, it wasn’t a bad omen for their relationship if she could perfectly recall every other detail of her life except for the one that was arguably the most important.

      She squeezed her eyes closed as though it might help paint a more accurate picture of the man in her mind. Caroline remembered the hook-shaped scar on his neck, she remembered he liked cherry-flavored candy and... And that was where all the details stopped.

      “Are you in pain?” Craig asked. “Should I call for a nurse?”

      “Oh, no.” Caroline’s lids popped open. “I was just trying really hard to recall something more concrete about us, like how long we’ve been together