Lara and the City of Angels by Elle Chardou Read Free Book Online Page A

before she opened the door wider and he stepped inside with his two bags of groceries from the upscale and pretentious supermarket.
    “You know, there is a Whole Foods not too far from my house. You should have gone there as their wine and cheese selection is better than Gelson’s.”
    “Well, you know I don’t trust my wine selections so that would be either you or Lara’s job to pick out decent wines. I know whiskey and vodka but that is pretty much the extent of my liquor repertoire.”
    They walked into his sister’s small yet airy kitchen. “How about some coffee? Or since it is after noon, would you prefer something stronger?”
    “I will take a bottle of imported lager,” he replied as he sat at her kitchen table. “By the way, where is Auriel?”
    “Upstairs, enjoying a Max and Ruby marathon on Nick Jr. She’s okay, Sean, and no, I don’t let her watch too much television but apparently her nanny never lets her watch any and neither does her mother so she feels like a kid in a candy store when she stays with me, literally.”
    Sean sighed in a tired and disconcerted manner. “Thanks for doing this, Sorcha. I wanted her to be around family and not in some strange place with people she doesn’t know. Lara was just fooling herself to believe she would have time for her while she is on location. I have been on enough film shoots and if you aren’t doing scenes, you’re hanging out with people you have bonded with on the set. It is hardly a place for children; I don’t think that changes just because she is filming a few lousy episodes of a television show and I regularly do movies.”
    His sister pulled out two bottles of Carlsberg and sat next to him. “Lara is a great woman, Sean. She’s independent and perfect for you. I’m not going to lie to you: Dad, Mom and I were really worried about you. We thought you were just going to ruin your career by coming out of the closet or you would end up with some pneumatic blonde straight out of Uptown Girl who would dump a few kids for you and then try to sue you for half your wealth.”
    “Excuse me? What closet was I suppose to emerge from?” he inquired in a distasteful voice.
    “You know exactly what I mean. You were effeminate as a child and Mom was just happy you didn’t turn out a cross-dressing transsexual. They can get over the whole ‘gay’ issue but they would have felt like they failed you if you started growing your hair long, started taking hormones and changed your name to Shawna. Hell, you know I am as liberal as they come but I can’t help thinking people who want to change up their sex…well, they are dealing with issues that go much farther than their sex. There is something they don’t like about themselves and they believe that self-hatred will disappear once they change bodies but you can’t escape yourself even with surgery. Hell, you can’t rid yourself of your own personal demons no matter how you desecrate your body.”
    “How the hell did we get on this subject?” Sean wondered out loud. “I was never gonna be a transsexual and there is a huge difference between being gay, a cross-dresser and a transsexual. They are not all one in the same—”
    “Yeah, Sean, I am aware of that. I’m just rambling is all. As I said before, we were all surprised when you ended up with Lara and it’s obvious she isn’t very happy to the most casual observer. Is that why you let her do this show? Were you scared she would file for divorce?”
    “She still might.” He took a long swig from his Carlsberg. “Yeah, I fucked up our marriage big time and I have no one to blame but myself.”
    “Hey, it takes two to tango. I’m not going to allow you to put everything that has gone wrong with your marriage on you. Lara isn’t perfect either so you are both at fault for what is going on.” His sister played with the cap from her lager. “Could any of this have to do with the whole ‘swinger lifestyle’? I always thought Lara was a