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“I can imagine,” I commiserate, nodding. “Is your publisher telling you what sort of things to include and what to leave out?”
I can see Dan looking over at me sharply as if he’s trying to determine what my angle is exactly, but my brother is none the wiser. Roxanne shrugs one shoulder.
“They’re giving me pretty much free rein right now. I’m sure that will change during the editing process, but I’m just trying to get it all down right now. I’m starting to see that things I find exciting are boring to readers and that the opposite is also true. So my current goal is to just actually write it all, and then parse through what is important and what isn’t later on.”
“Everything, huh? That must take forever,” I say.
“Yeah, it does, but I have a good memory so at least I’m not struggling to remember everything.” She smiles, somewhat self-consciously. “Sometimes I pretend to forget the more embarrassing things, though. No one needs to hear some of the more ridiculous things I did in my youth.”
Dan snorts at this. “I feel you there.”
I kick his ankle under the table for good measure, but he doesn’t even flinch. Jerk. As if I need to be reminded how promiscuous he’s been in the past. Even if it isn’t any of my business, I’d rather not have to think about it.
Eventually, dinner ends, and Roxie has been completely vague about the contents of her novel up to this point. I understand her reluctance; she isn’t sure about me yet, and she’s probably been coached to not say much about it, so she doesn’t give away all the juicy parts before publishing. Still, I need more information if this dinner is going to be worthwhile and provide me with enough tidbits to keep Dad and Karl quiet for a little while.
As Roxie and Andries take dishes away, insisting that Dan and I not lift a finger to help, I slide him a glance. “You’re up. Go keep my brother busy.”
He groans, rubbing his face. “She talked about the book plenty. Can’t we just have a normal night with no weird scheming?”
“This is for my benefitandtheirs, so just shut up and do your part, please.”
He scowls at me, and I kick him under the table again. He snatches my ankle before I can connect, anticipating it, and my yelp of complaint silences when I feel his thumb make a small, lazy circle on the hollow of my ankle.
“I’m not going to take any more of that, Elise,” he all but purrs, his hand traveling higher, fingers brushing the sensitive back of my knee. “Save that aggression for more appropriate places.”
It’s easy to get lost in his eyes when he’s touching me, but I hear my brother's heavy footsteps not too far away, and I know I can’t let myself get too caught up in Dan. I almost whimper in sadness when he drops my foot back to the ground, but after one more heated look, Dan pops up from his chair and greets Andries as he returns.
“Hey man, have you heard of this poet Robert Frost? I just read something of his recently and I really enjoyed it.”
Andries stops and gives his friend a withering look. “Do you mean Robert Frost, one of the most famous poets of all time? HaveIheard of Robert Frost?”
With a goofy, sort of empty look on his face, Dan nods. “Yeah. Something about gold and leaves.”
Andries pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. “Yes, Dan, I’ve heard of him. I did an entire set of poems myself based on his earlier work.”
“Huh. You should show me sometime.”
My brother jerks his head back toward the study. “Come on, then.”
Roxanne joins me just as they turn the corner, and looks down at me where I’m still sitting, maybe unsure of what to do with her lone guest now. She sighs and turns to get back into the kitchen. “I’ll get some dessert wine and we can go sit out on the terrace.”
Unfortunately, this visit has ulterior motives, because otherwise, I might actually bond with Roxanne as we sit out and overlook the city, sipping sweet wine and simply enjoying the cool night air. My potential sister-in-law has a lovely home, great taste in wine, and seems to actually make my brother happy. Ihate that things have to be the way they are, even if I don’t really look forward to adding Roxanne to the family tree. This is all going to break Andries’s heart in the end.
I take a deep breath to steady myself and get the courage to break the silence. “So about your memoir… is my brother helping much with that?”
She turns to me and seems to examine my face in profile, trying to discern what my angle is. “He is here and there, but some of the subject matter upsets him, as can be expected, so I work with an editor when I get really stuck.”
“You don’t think releasing it will upset Andries too?”
“I’m sure he doesn’t love everything that I’m exposing, both about my own past and the state of the industry itself, but he’s supporting me anyway.”
Roxanne skates around the finer details that I need expertly, so I do the only thing that I’m sure will get me the answers I need. I ask her directly.
“I have been wondering… with the media still locked onto the case with Karl somewhat, will you mention his name and Patricia’s name in your memoir, or use aliases?”
Now she narrows her eyes at me. “And why exactly do you want to know that?”
“Honestly Roxanne, Karl is still working at Van den Bosch industries, and you and I both know that it made my dad’s company really take a hit both in the public eye and financially to deal with the accusations leveled against him. When your memoir is released, it’s going to start that process all over again, and I don’t want to have to deal with the same situation a second time.”
