“You must be a collector,” I remarked. There were carved wooden statues of pelicans and anthropomorphic knick-knacks, along with several paintings, ranging from life-like replicas to exaggerated cartoon figures.
“Runs in the family,” she said. “I’m Janice, by the way. Arden’s aunt.”
“Yes, he’s told me about you.”
“I read your books. Arden bought me the entire set. They’re not bad.” She gave me a hard look, and I sensed this woman wasn’t free with her compliments.
“Thank you. I’m glad you liked them.”
“Arden said they’re going to be making a TV show out of them.”
“If I’m very lucky.”
“The amnesia thing is a little overdone, but you know, everyone loves a good amnesia story.”
“It’s a very popular plot device,” I agreed.
Janice brought me an iced tea with lemon and took the chair across from mine. We sat near a sliding glass door, which offered a view of the balcony, the backyard, and Arden’s boat, gently bobbing on the mostly flat water. It appeared to be in good shape and not nearly the eyesore he’d claimed.
“Arden loves that goddamned boat,” Janice said, following my gaze. “Been out there damn-near every day fixing her up. Don’t know where he got the money. New engine, new paint. She’s looking better even than the day Jimmy brought her here when she was brand-spanking new.”
James Evans, Arden’s father and the captain in his memoir. I knew from Arden’s writing that his father’s parents had died when he was a young man—his mother from lung cancer and his father from a stroke—and that he’d spent his meager inheritance on purchasing his boat. Interesting how both he and his son were orphaned at a relatively young age.
I turned my attention to Janice, Arden’s only living relative. I wanted to make a good impression.
“Do you sail?” I asked, not wanting to rely too much on what I’d read of Arden’s life.
“Arden’s gotten me to go out with him a few times but never very far. I get seasick, you know?” She made a sour face.
“Were you close with Arden’s father?”
“Close enough. My dad let him keep his boat here for a few years. This was before our parents passed. Then he knocked up my sister and decided not to marry her. Bastard set sail right after. Never sent a birthday card or child support. Nothing. Then, he shows up at my sister’s funeral out of the blue and decides he wants to be a parent.” She shook her head and stubbed out her cigarette in a ceramic ash tray. Nothing but filter.
“Must have been a shock,” I said.
“I thought he’d died. I may have even prayed for it once or twice. I told Arden he could stay here with me, but he wanted to get to know his father. You know how boys are at that age.”
“He told me that he misses the ocean and sailing.”
“He loves it. It’s a hard life, though. And lonely at times.” She gave me an odd look. “You sail?”
I shook my head. “No, but I’d like to learn, and I take direction well.”
She tilted her head and studied me. “I do worry about him. Getting lost out there.” She gazed out at the water, similar to how Arden did at times. “He’s a wanderlust, for sure. That’s his favorite book, you know?”
“The Old Man and the Sea?”
She laughed. “No, that was his old man’s favorite. Arden’s favorite isWanderlustby Danielle Steel. Always with his nose in a book, that one.”
“He’s a romantic,” I said, voicing something else I’d recently discovered about my lover. I’d suspected it, of course, but had never truly understood until I’d read his memoir.
“He had a hard time after his father passed. He was going out every night, doing God knows what with God knows who. Then he got himself a rich boyfriend and moved to New York City.” She eyed me again.
“I’m the not-so-rich boyfriend,” I assured her.
She laughed, which turned into a phlegmatic cough. We really must quit smoking. I drank my iced tea and waited for her coughing spell to pass.
“Do you have any advice for me?” I wanted whatever insight she might be able to provide.
