Great movie -too open ending!

Since Rory is driving a car of today, he and Clay can't be the same person. And the old man wouldn't have been THAT old if he and Rory met in the 80s or 90s. At the same time Clay has a picture of an African-American woman as a bookmark in his book "The words", he's still wearing her ring and he clearly has this dark secret. So my understanding is that "The Words" was a way of coming clean on paper to himself and to his wife, but he fictionalized the names and timelines (hence the real life vs. fiction-comment Clay made to Daniella). The old man may or may not have existed, perhaps it was just a way of showing his inner demons. The fact is that Clay stole a book, maybe published under a pseudonym, and ruined his life because of it.