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She laughs, but it sounds slightly anxious. “I didn’t think I was able to be nervous about anything anymore, but when my agent started talking about national signing tours and marketing campaigns, I actually felt scared. But it pushed me to be even better and to write something that really meant something to me. I actually added on a large portion in the second part of the book talking all about sex worker rights in Amsterdam and how the power needs to go back to the sex worker and not the consumer.”
“Does that happen a lot? Clients having better rights than the escorts?” Jessica asks at my side, trying to join the conversation.
“Absolutely. In Germany, for instance, clients can get a refund for even the smallest inconvenience, even if the sex act lasted the allotted amount of time. Courts usually side with the consumer and that needs to change. Sex workers are more vulnerable than any other type of service providers, and I think that people need to realize that they aren’t just dolls to beplayed with: They’re living, breathing people that deserve proper protections and rights.”
“You’re so right,” Jessica says, her voice of quiet awe.
I have to admit, I’m pretty impressed that Roxanne managed to come up with all of this in such a short amount of time. From the way she’s talking about the whole thing, she and Andries must have brainstormed the idea for the memoir while together in France.
“It’s incredible you’ve put so much thought and planning into this already. Did this all come about when the two of you were in Paris?”
She shakes her head. “No. Actually, I got the idea when I was having lunch with my sister quite some time before Paris, but being with Andries helped me condense my ideas down into something worthwhile.”
I’m not even part of the Van den Bosch family, and the idea of the eldest son’s wife releasing a memoir about the inner workings of high-end escorting has me a little stressed, too. Of course, she found an agent in record time. That book is going to be like a bomb going off when she publishes it.
“Surely you’re going to use a pen name?” I ask hopefully, but I should have known better. This is Roxanne, of course, and she does nothing by half measures.
“Of course not!” Roxie exclaims. “Why would I want to hide my identity?”
Andries reaches over and lays his hand over hers, squeezing. “It’s something she should be proud of. The agent has been talking to some publishers already, so if we’re lucky it won’t take too long to get the ball rolling.”
This topic of conversation is, without a doubt, the most interesting one of the night, and Roxanne regales us with snippets of the stories she plans to tell, much to everyone'sdelight. Her mother does look a little uncomfortable with all the escort talk, but she keeps a brave face and doesn’t protest.
Had Roxanne been engaged to anyone other than Andries, this book would be fantastic news. It’s a noble cause that morally I completely agree with. Things get complicated, though, when you mix in the reputations of old money families. I wonder if Roxanne even knows the chaos she’s going to cause with this. At the same time, I feel bad for wanting to tell her to reconsider. Everything she’s saying about escort rights and the dark underbelly of the whole business is completely correct.
Dinner winds down, and the happy couple orders another bottle of champagne. Andries is especially demanding about the after-dinner confections, and once the flutes of champagne have been all filled and distributed among the guests, I notice another server walking in and bringing something else over. Andries had the kitchen craft a special, pale green mochi princess cake for his fiancée, topped with a delicate sugar rose on the top and long, elegant lit candles that bathe Roxie’s face in firelight.
We sing to her, and she blows out the thirty-six candles, laughing like a little kid as she does so. Everyone has just started to enjoy their treats and the accompanying fresh, crispy champagne when I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. Frowning, I pull it out and look at the screen. It’s Elise.
I silence the call, hoping to ignore her altogether, but she calls a second, and then a third time, at which point I know I can’t escape.
“Pardon me, I’ll be right back. I just have to take this call,” I tell the table, standing and walking briskly into the building and back outside at the front of the restaurant.
Elise has texted me after my multiple ignored calls, asking:How is the birthday dinner going?
Shocked, I look around, but see no one.
Dan:How did you find out about the birthday party?
Elise:I know everything, Dan.
Flustered by her response, I give up and call her. When she picks up, I ask her, “What do you want, El? Besides being nosy.”
“Considering you’ve been lying to me I figured the best way to find out the truth of what is going on is to keep tabs on everything. Anyway, how exactly is dinner going?”
I wish she could see how hard I’m rolling my eyes. “It’s great, Elise,” I tell her sarcastically. “We just had cake. Can I go now?”
“And Roxanne? How is she doing?” she insists. “No baby announcement or anything that would cause my dad to have a heart attack?”
I’m sure she’s just fishing for information for her dad at this point but I find myself unable to lie to her.
I flick my eyes over the space around me, making sure that none of the other party guests have followed me. I can’t help but feel some lingering guilt about how harsh I had been with Elise when she stormed onto my parents’ property the other day, and that little remainder of emotion makes me want to do something to make up for hurting her. While I had only intended on shutting her down so she would drop her complaints and let Andries have his engagement party in peace, I can’t help but think that maybe I took it too far.
There is one tidbit of information that I can give Elise that I know she will find fascinating. I just hope it doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass.
“Well, not a baby but… Roxanne announced to the table that she’s going to publish a memoir about her time as an escort. It’s apparently going to be incredibly detailed.”
Elise makes a choked sound and then gives an incredulous laugh. “But she’s going to use a pen name, right?”
