open, the vodka, and he’s taken two small sips. “I apologize for drinking in front of you,” he says. “I’m trying to get back on track, but I can’t go cold turkey, especially for difficult conversations. I’ll just backslide if I do.” His eyes stray to the row of bottles. “I’m not intending to have all of these. Or even most of them. There’s just something comforting about knowing that I could.”
“It’s fine,” I tell him. “How’d you know where I was?” There’s limited seating in the room, so I’m sprawled across one of the twin beds, while Archer sits in the desk chair.
“I still have friends at the resort,” he says. “I don’t deserve them, but I have them.” He rubs one hand over his thin, angular face. I can’t get used to the lack of mountain-man beard. “Just to keep things straight, because I’ve been hit with a lot of new information tonight: you are not, in fact, my nephew. Correct?”
“Correct,” I say. He gives me such a regretful smile, like maybe he wishes that I was, that I find myself telling him the whole sordid story about how I got here. When I finish, he shakes his head and takes a small sip of vodka.
“Gotta admit, you as Anders’s son never really fit.”
“So I keep hearing,” I say. “Were you at the gala tonight?”
“Oh no. I was distinctly not invited. But I heard all about it. Including my brother’s return.” Another small sip. “I need to try to contact Milly and Aubrey. As far as I can tell they’re back in the dorms. But I’d like to make sure they’re okay. And to apologize,” he adds, his voice getting heavy. “Which is why I’m here. I owe you an apology too. I dropped out of sight after we talked. I saw the article about me in the Gull Cove Gazette the next day, and it hit me hard. I felt like I’d ruined everything, and I panicked. And when I panic, well…I tend to lose what little control I have.”
Archer looks like he desperately wants another sip of vodka, but he doesn’t take one. “I brought you guys here, and then I abandoned you. Which is unconscionable. You’re just kids. I’m sorry that my refusal to act like an adult human at any point in the past few weeks—or the past two decades, really—led to the horrible evening you’ve just experienced.”
I’m quiet for a moment, absorbing his words. “That’s a pretty far-ranging apology.”
The ghost of a smile flits across his face. “I felt like I needed to cover a lot of bases.”
“It’s okay. I mean, I was lying to you the whole time, so I guess we’re even.” I wait until Archer picks up the vodka bottle again, then ask, “Did you get a chance to talk to Dr. Baxter about that letter before he died?”
He pauses before taking another drink. “No. I was too much of a wreck to leave the house that day.”
“What do you think he wanted to tell you?”
Archer sighs heavily. “No idea.”
“So now what? Are you going back to Rob’s?”
“Yeah, but not for long. I’ve taken too much advantage of his goodwill already. I just need a few days to get my act together, and then it’s time for me to leave the island.” He sighs again. “Return to real life, whatever that is.”
An idea hits me, so suddenly that I sit bolt upright. “Can I come with you?” I ask.
Archer blinks. “Say what?”
“Can I come with you?” I repeat. “I haven’t called my parents yet. And I—I left things really bad with Milly.” I flush, remembering her frozen face after I went off on Mildred. “I need to apologize.”
“I understand the compulsion,” Archer says cautiously. “But you can do that long distance, after tempers have cooled. I think it’s in your best interest to head out as planned.”
“Please? Just for a day or two.”
He regards me steadily. “Jonah, in case this wasn’t perfectly clear—I’m an alcoholic.”
“I know,” I say.
“You can’t depend on me. And I can’t be responsible for you.”
“I’m almost eighteen.” In ten months, but close enough. “I’ll be responsible for myself. I have been since I got here.” Archer hesitates, and I press. “Come on. Do you want your mother to get her way every time she orders Donald Camden to kick somebody off Gull Cove Island?”
“Well.” A smile tugs at the corners of Archer’s mouth. “I’ll say one thing for you: you know how to