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 that we don’t upset the patient until all the tests come back and we know more about what’s going on.”
“So when will that happen?”
“As soon as her fiancé gives us consent?”
“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.”
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,
