About Last Night...

He moved to avoid them, but one biker unfortunately moved in the same direction he did. The impact was hard and sudden; he felt the sharp jab of the bike’s handles into his gut and then the heavy thud of a body as the man flew over the handles of the bike, crashing into him. Colin was pushed backward, flipping over the rail. Strangely, through the surge of pain and movement, he thought how odd it felt to be so completely out of control of his body for the second time that evening, tossed about as if he were weightless.

He grabbed desperately for the rail but only grasped darkness. The next sensation he felt was intense, bone-biting cold—and pain. He hit something hard, and it hurt. He saw Miranda’s face in his mind’s eye just as everything faded to black.

3

“I WANT TO SPEAK to Dr. Monroe, Travis Monroe. I want to see him now!” Miranda was nearly hysterical with fear, and was willing to walk directly over the emergency nurse and into the intensive care unit if she had to.

They had Colin. Travis had called her, and she had somehow made it to the hospital through her panic and tears. She had to see him, see that he was alive, before she would listen to anyone. She had to see for herself. God, it was all happening again. First with Derek, and now Colin. If they lost him how could she live with herself? Obviously he had been upset when he left. This was all her fault.

The nurse put gentle but firm hands on her shoulders, and Miranda braced herself to break way when she was distracted by footsteps running up behind her. Just at that moment, Travis turned a corner out into the hallway, his expression grave. She started to call to him but saw Colin’s mother dash past her, and over to Travis. Miranda broke away and quickly followed behind Colin’s dad and Penny.

The scene was sheer chaos. Travis put his hands up to stop the flow of questions that suddenly flooded the hall and herded them back toward the waiting room. Miranda looked at Joyce, Colin’s mom, and felt ashamed of her own lack of control. Joyce must be reliving the nightmare of losing Derek right now and that was much worse than her own panic. The older woman was drawn and pale and clearly needed to sit down. Miranda swallowed her fear and dropped back, trailing the group as they entered a small room.

Travis started to speak.

“First things first—you should all relax. Colin’s okay. We’re watching him carefully right now. He was mildly hypothermic and took a nasty bump, but his vitals are good and he didn’t sustain any serious internal injuries or broken bones, which is amazing in and of itself.”

Miranda felt relief well in her heart and tears filled her eyes. She glanced over in surprise when she felt a strong hand squeeze hers, and realized Colin’s dad, Ed, was holding her hand, his own face tense with worry. She nodded reassuringly at him, squeezing his hand back as Travis continued speaking.

“There is one thing, though. You need to know before you see him.”

“What? What is it?” Miranda spoke for the first time, and Travis’s eyes locked on hers.

“Well, this isn’t unusual with a serious fall, and it will likely clear itself up quickly, but—”

“Just spit it out, Travis!” Penny interrupted impatiently, and Travis slid her a look that made Miranda wince.

“He isn’t remembering everything at the moment. He knows he was in the water, but he doesn’t remember how he got there, how he was rescued, or the events leading up to the fall.” He surveyed their faces, gauging their reactions before he continued. “There could be other random memory loss, but we have to wait and see. Sometimes people will permanently lose their recollections of the events immediately prior to a traumatic experience and other times it comes back in stages. It’s confusing for him right now, so just go with it.”

Joyce’s voice quavered. “Will he know us?”

Travis squeezed her shoulder kindly. “I’m pretty sure he will. At least from what we could tell, it seems he’s lost a chunk of time, but not his memories of people. Especially those he’s closest to. Besides, who could forget your cooking?”

Miranda admired Travis’s professionalism, as well as his kindness. She had never seen him in his doctor role before and was very impressed. He was like an entirely different person. It was hard to believe this was the same carrot-topped, practical-joke-loving Travis they had all grown up with.

“We have to wait until he is fully awake and aware until we know the extent of his memory loss. And he may have some short-term memory problems in the coming days or weeks. That’s not unusual with amnesia, so don’t worry if he can’t remember a phone number, or something like that.”

They nodded. Ed guided Joyce over to a couch to sit down, leaving Travis, Penny and Miranda together.

Penny spoke, her wry voice cutting through the tension. “Travis, are you sure? Remember you told me my toe needed to be cut off when I stubbed it?” She reached over and flipped the end of Travis’s tie.

Travis’s expression was pained as he closed his eyes and shook his head. Leave it to Penny.

“I was twelve then, Pen.”

“Yeah, but still, you were way wrong.”

Miranda had to smile and wink at Penny. A little humor never hurt.

“When can we see him, Travis?”

“You can all go in to see him, one at a time, to put your minds at rest…but just for a minute. He needs to sleep this off. He’s pretty heavily sedated, too, so don’t expect much. Tomorrow he will be better.”

They nodded and proceeded to walk single file down the hallway behind Travis. Miranda caught up with Travis, relieved she could finally speak to him alone.

“You said he was in a bicycle accident. Was anyone else hurt?”

Travis stood by the emergency-room door, stepping to the side while Joyce went in to see Colin.

“The other guy was pretty banged up, has a decent concussion, but his friend managed to avoid the whole thing, which was a blessing. He had an emergency flare and a flashlight on his bike and managed to signal a nearby boat coming in for the night. If Colin had been in the water much longer, his chances would not have been good at all. Hypothermia sets in fast.”

Miranda sank against the wall, swallowing hard.

“I can’t even imagine how bad this must be for Ed and Joyce. They were supposed to leave on an anniversary cruise in two days. They are probably wrecks.”

Travis rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I’ll talk to them when they come out. I can understand their panic, but it’s probably not necessary to cancel their trip. Col will feel banged up for a few days, and we’ll have to wait and see on the memory issues, but he’ll be up and around by tomorrow, and we’ll probably release him if he shows no other symptoms.”

Miranda considered telling Travis about their evening, wondering if it might help to trigger Colin’s memory, then she shut up. Everyone was going to think she was a bad-luck charm for the Jacobs brothers.

Joyce and Ed came back into the hallway appearing much more relaxed, and Travis smiled.

“He was awake? He knew you?”

“Oh, yes. Right away. Though he couldn’t say much. When will you be releasing him? He can come home and we’ll take care of him.”

“You know, Randi here tells me you two had a trip planned. As long as nothing else happens tonight or tomorrow—which it likely won’t—” he added at the sight of Joyce’s suddenly worried expression “—he’ll be fine to get up and go home after a day of observation. The best thing for him to do, and for his memory, is to get back to his normal life as soon as he feels up to it. With no major injuries, he’ll probably want to return to work and a normal routine.”

Joyce was doubtful. “Oh, I don’t know. I think he should…”

“Hey, now, you may be the best cookie-baker this side of the planet, but I’m the doctor, right? Just go home now, and relax. He’s fine. He’s lucky.”

Ed nodded and shook Travis’s hand before leaving. Miranda watched them, then turned to Travis.

“Do you mind if I go in for a moment? Alone?” She slid an apologetic look at Penny, who, with her hands, motioned her to go along.

“You go on in. I’m fine. I’ll see him tomorrow when I can talk with him more. There’s no point in tiring him out now.”

Miranda nodded and, with her heart in her throat, walked into the room, unsure of what she would face there.

THE HALL, WHICH HAD BEEN crowded and noisy, was suddenly extremely quiet. Penny peeked up at Travis as she kicked at the corner of the wall.

“So he really is okay? You weren’t just trying to make them all feel better?”

“Penny, doctors really aren’t allowed to be less than completely honest. Unfortunately, even when the news is bad, we have to tell it like it is. So yes, unless something wildly unusual happens, he really is going to be fine. We’re keeping a close eye on him so don’t worry.”

She smiled, relieved, and suddenly felt awkward standing so close to Trav. He’d always been skinny and gawky, freckled and redheaded. She’d called him “Opie” and “chicken legs” and a bunch of other names for as long as she could remember. The teasing was an equalizer between them. It helped erase the fact that Travis’s life had been so different from her own.

Travis had been the last of their little group to appear, his parents moving to Portland from New York City when he was seven. His father was a well-known attorney and, though the group lived within blocks of each other, Travis’s home was much more luxurious than the rest of theirs. He’d traveled all over the world, spoke two other languages and could discuss topics she had no idea about.