Shane’s dark blue eyes narrowed in confusion. “You don’t remember me? But you called me by name.”
Sam shrugged. The automatic movement sent cascades of pain from his shoulders to the pit of his stomach. He felt the room starting to sway around him. “Damn,” he muttered. “Looks like I’m going to be visiting Dr. Frank again.”
He heard Marjorie cry out and Shane exclaim something before he hit the floor. After that, he heard nothing.
Chapter Fifteen
Serena hurried down the hospital hallway with a disturbing sense of déjà vu. Without remembering to knock, she pushed open the door she’d been directed to and rushed into the room. Sam sat on the side of the bed, and there was another man in a chair close by. Judging from their expressions, they’d obviously been engaged in a serious conversation.
“Are you all right?” she asked when Sam turned to look at her.
“I’m okay. Just a few new bruises to add to that patchwork quilt,” he quipped, holding out a hand to her.
She placed her hand in his and was somewhat reassured by the strength of his grip. There were no fresh bruises on his face, as far as she could tell, but he held himself rather stiffly, turning his head with caution. “You really have to stop doing things like this,” she chided him gruffly. “You can’t take too much more.”
“It isn’t as if I’ve tried to get run down and beaten up,” he retorted. “I just seem to be good at being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Serena looked at the other man, who’d been watching them with obvious interest. Sam made the introductions. “Serena Schaffer, this is Shane Walker.”
“Shane,” she repeated, feeling her eyes go wide. “You’re Shane?”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” he said in an unmistakable Texas drawl. “Cam’s been telling me about how kind you and your mother have been to him.”
“Cam?” she parroted, not quite sure she’d heard correctly.
The man she had known as Sam Wallace nodded, his expression devoid of emotion. “Apparently, my name is Cameron North and I’m a reporter with a Dallas newspaper.”
Her knees weakened. She sank to the bed beside Sam—Cameron, she corrected herself—before she embarrassed herself by folding to the floor. “Cameron North,” she repeated, testing the sound of it.
“We’ve been concerned about Cam since he disappeared three weeks ago,” Shane explained, looking from his friend to Serena. “I knew he was pursuing a story that had some danger involved and I was afraid that something had happened to him. I’ve got a couple of uncles who are private investigators, and they’ve been looking for him. When Chief Meadows sent out a report about a John Doe matching Cam’s description showing up here in Edstown, I had to come check it out. A few questions led me to the diner, where I found Cameron involved in a brawl out back.”
Serena looked at Cameron. “Do you remember anything?”
He shrugged. “Some of what Shane’s been telling me sounds familiar. A few memories have surfaced, but they’re still pretty patchy.”
“I’ve promised we’ll get him the best medical help,” Shane said. “I’ve got another couple of uncles who are doctors in Dallas.”
“An uncle for every occasion,” Cameron murmured, and the dry remark sounded so much like Sam that Serena’s throat tightened. Maybe he had a different name now, but he was still the man she’d tumbled so recklessly in love with during the past three weeks.
“Shane thinks it will be good for me to go back to Dallas, check out my usual haunts there. He thinks the memories will come back faster in my natural element.”
“He’s probably right,” Serena agreed reluctantly. “You’d probably recover faster at home.”
“Home.” Sam—or rather Cameron, she corrected herself again—said the word as if he’d never heard it before. “Funny. When I think of home, it isn’t Dallas. It’s the guest house.”
A pang went through her heart. She looked at their joined hands, wondering if she would ever be able to step into the guest house again or if her memories would be too overwhelming. Something told her she would welcome a bit of amnesia after he was gone—but she knew she would remember every minute she’d spent with him.
“Your family must be frantic about you,” she murmured. And please don’t let that family include a wife or kids, she added silently.
Shane cleared his throat. “Actually, Cam’s not really close to his parents. I doubt they know he’s been gone. He’s always said that he’s closer to my family than his own.”
“That must be why he couldn’t tell whether you were a friend or a brother when he remembered you.”
Shane gave his friend a faint smile. “Yeah. Must be.”
She noticed that Shane wore a wedding ring. “I see you’re married. Is your wife’s name Molly?”
“No, Molly’s my sister,” Shane replied, confirming Cameron’s guess from that morning. “My wife’s name is Kelly.”