Settling one problem (clothes)...

That night, after Gerald and Michael helped unload the boxes from the back of Ryan's truck and helped place them in the house, Arron had expressed his gratitude by offering to host a BBQ when the house was ready and they had the chance to settle in. Ryan, for his part, smiled and gave a polite nod before he picked up a can of beer from his brother and drove off back to his house. Hannah whistled softly as she saw the receipt but nodded and still gave her offer to help set things up if needed.

When they had finally the house to themselves, Arron stood in the middle of his bedroom, the master bedroom was on the ground floor and overlooked a decent expanse of lawn to the treeline between them and the road. It was spacious at the moment, with only a dresser and vanity set up (the vanity had been Sarah's idea at the store and he couldn't come up with an argument on why he shouldn't have one, her argument being how weird it would look for an adult woman not to have one set up in her bedroom.) The closet was also oversized for what they needed, it was deep enough for him to walk into it and there were two sides where he could hang both long things and then have two rows for the other. In particular, he noted, was a section that was designed for shoes (the realtor had pointed this out during the conversation).

They must've thought I was a woman all this time...

Sarah knocked quietly on the door and Arron just motioned for her to come in. In her hands was a box and he merely nodded and joined her on the floor next to the three other boxes she had brought in earlier. Each was marked "Mom" and as they opened it, he could see that there were mounds of her clothes. Everything from jeans and shorts to capris, leggings, yoga pants were placed in one pile. Next to it were blouses, shirts, knit tops, sweaters, her pink and red winter jackets, heavy snow jackets (the bunny jacket, he had mocked her once about...the irony was not lost on him now.) Beyond that sat a bundle of her socks, more leggings, some unopened containers of pantyhose, and stockings that ran the gambit from knee-highs to thigh-highs.

He couldn't bring himself to consider the box marked with an "X" on it, not yet anyway.

Sarah opened the last box and there, inside, were several bundles of her mother's work clothes. Women's work slacks, skirts, business suits, pant suits, and a blazer or two were in there. She had been an administrative assistant for a banking executive back east so it was logical that she would have worn such clothing. He wasn't sure if he could pull off the same look but if everyone thought he was her already, this was just going to be a pain in the ass either way.

"Gods, I never knew she had this much clothes..." he muttered, taking out some hangers and beginning to fix and organize them.

Sarah shrugged. "There's still two more boxes of stuff, mostly dresses that she liked to wear."

Arron sighed. "I guess I should be grateful that I have some clothes to wear...but how the hell can I explain something like her, I don't know, being dead? We did report that, she was buried and everything..."

For once, the two of them lapsed in silence as they worked to clear the clothes off the floor. It took them a good hour or two but by the time they were done, the closet was full and actually organized by type, usage, color, and even function. Facing the wall from the doorway, the right side had her dresses, work suits, and lengthy clothes hanging. To the left, the top row had her knits and tops while the bottom had her pants and skirts. Miscellaneous clothes and socks were placed in the dresser drawers and the vanity, though still empty, just seemed to fit more of the room.

"Well, thanks for helping me get squared away, Sarah."

After she nodded and wished her father good night and went up the stairs, Arron turned and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He noticed that he was still top heavy and, with his cheeks a bit flushed, noticed that he simply forgot he had been wearing a stuffed bra for the past few hours. Not only that, he had been rather oblivious about it. Still, as he took off the sweater, he couldn't bring himself to remove it just yet. He kept the bra on and slid on one of her favorite oversized shirts and a pair of comfortable sweats.

"Now that I got that out of the way," he mused, turning to his phone and tapping it, "what to do about a job..."

Arron looked at the emails he had received. One came from Hannah, she had eagerly sent him a posting from the school's job network. A second was from Indeed, listing two jobs. The third came from Greta, a woman from her church group had heard about him looking for a job and passed on the message. He knew that all of them thought they were looking at an interested woman but a job was a job and money was money.

Hannah's Offer: Administrative Assistant to the Dean of Admissions

INDEED: Secretary 2 at Northwest Financials; Nurse at Lakeside Hospital

Greta's Offer: Sales Clerk/Book keeper at Rainbow Bookstore

Which to choose?