His mind darted to thoughts of Ava and reared back. There were only two answers. One: he was holding it for a friend, and that was unlikely. Or two: he was going to ask someone to marry him.

Ava? After only a week? Not yet three months after Roslyn had died?

If things had progressed so far, no wonder Ava had been devastated when he hadn’t remembered her.

An engagement ring!

Gingerly, he picked it up in his fingers. The faceted diamond instantly captured the light and flashed brilliant. It was a beautiful ring, and on the very expensive end of the price range, he’d guess. What had he been thinking? Had they even talked about it, or was it all in his plans for later – assuming he didn’t get hit by a car and suffer amnesia!

Bloody hell.

But did it change anything, apart from giving him some understanding of how intense their relationship must have been or was becoming?

What the hell had he been thinking?

He kept coming back to that. Had he planned to move to Alice Springs, which seemed radical considering his life was in Sydney? Or was Ava going to leave the place she loved – surely, he hadn’t been stupid enough to ask that or even think that? His head began to pound and he put the ring back and zipped it away.

He had no idea.

He needed to think.

There was no rush. The ring had sat there at least since the accident – and diamonds didn’t age. What was a little more time?

Zac returned to the emergency department the next evening, and apart from having to learn everyone’s names again, to his relief he had no problem with the work.

Hana and Jock had both been discharged – he’d asked the night-shift clerk to check, though they were staying in Alice Springs because Jock was coming up to the hospital twice a week to see his case worker. Before he’d left for Uluru, Zac had left his number with Hana, but he still thought it for the best that he didn’t see them unless they asked. Neither needed to be reminded of the last time if it caused them pain.

After the first night his headaches stopped and he slept better, though once it was dark, his nightmares developed into epic disasters that left him sweating and cold. The agitation and feeling of loss each time he woke up grew, but the stress eased once he was in the rush and drama of work. When his two-day break came he drove off-road, went back along the Red Centre Way, and took to any walking tracks he could find with a vengeance.

Chapter Forty-six

Ava