Her head pounded. What was she supposed to do? She could tell him the truth, say he’d proposed, force him to look at her and describe what they had. ‘Daunting’ didn’t begin to describe what that would be like. And what if he didn’t believe her? A proposal after a week, to a woman he didn’t recognise, in a place he was passing through? Ludicrous. If their positions were reversed she wouldn’t believe it.

Should she patiently wait here, hover around like a lost soul, until his mental recovery took pity on her? Pass time until he did remember? If he remembered. She didn’t even have an excuse to stay. She was on leave.

What if he never remembered her?

Stop it, she told herself. Bemoaning the fact won’t help you or Zac.

Ava blew out a long, pent-up, anguished sigh and let it go. She drew in a steadying breath and tried for the unshakably composed Ava. Okay. As soon as this bloody headache left her she’d make a plan. She had to. Because she was not losing the man she loved to a bloody white campervan.

Granny Mim and her mother were waiting when she returned. They took one look at her face and closed in for a group hug.

After several seconds of intense hugging, Stella was the first to step back. ‘Well? How is your friend?’

Ava hadn’t had the chance to say more than that Zac had flown down to see Uluru for the weekend. Her mother knew Ava had only known him for a week, so it wasn’t strange he’d be labelled ‘friend’. But it hurt. She couldn’t explain now, and Stella wouldn’t want to believe her, either. She’d always had a thing that city people were different, which was a double standard considering she’d married one who’d been the love of her life. Ava settled for ‘He’ll recover.’

Her mother examined her face with some scepticism. ‘Good. Does he remember you?’

And there was the hell of it. ‘No.’ She looked for reassurance. ‘Most people get their memory back, don’t they, Mum?’ She needed to refresh her understanding of amnesia prognosis. There wasn’t a lot of call for amnesia knowledge in obstetrics.

Stella nodded decisively. ‘Yes.’ Good old Mum. ‘Often a mirror incident or aural trigger can help. Is he having flashbacks?’

Ava thought back to their awkward conversation. ‘I don’t know. I told him we worked together, but that’s gone too. Dr Fithers said he’s lost a chunk of time since March, which would be just before he came here.’

There was a gasp from Mim, and Ava realised she must have given some indication of her hopes because Mim looked horrified at this stumbling block. Incurably romantic Mim.

‘He doesn’t think he’s still married?’ Mim asked.