The trip to Ikea

Arron settled into the passenger seat of the F-250 as the man he had just met, Ryan, made sure that Sarah was settled in the back before he walked around and slid behind the wheel. Even at 5'8", he felt puny inside the large cabin of the truck and the way it rode still required him to use the runner to step up and in. When he reached over and buckled himself, the strap dug immediately into his chest and Sarah had to stifle a snicker from behind as he quickly adjusted the strap to lay off the "boobs" on his chest. Damn tits...

"Sorry about the mess back there, just didn't have a lot of time to clean up when Gerald called me up."

Arron smiled and shook his head. "Thank you for coming, we appreciate the help." He looked back at Sarah who stifled a laugh and rolled his eyes before he turned and looked back at the driver. "Both my daughter and I."

Ryan smiled and nodded. The drive was equally fun and stilted, especially now that Arron had a clue that the people around him thought of him as a woman, as his dead wife, Erin, and proceeded to treat him that way. Sarah, for her part, did her best to keep from saying much but the fact that her father was caught in a sticky situation only made her more than a bit mirthful and she relished every chance she had to rub it in on him.

"What do you think about this one?" she whispered as Ryan dropped them off at the front before proceeding to finding a parking space.

"What do you mean?"

Sarah motioned over at the man parking his truck with her eyes. "You know exactly what I mean, MOM..."

"Oh get off it..." he hissed back, feeling his face flushing a bit in embarrassment, sure that his heart beating fast was loud enough for all to hear. "I can't believe I still have to put up with this..."

Before the two could do any more, Ryan quickly joined them and the three walked into the store. It was yet another awkward moment as they rode up the escalator as he was sure, from outside, it looked like the three of them were a family out shopping for something, though Sarah did her best to still be supportive and stayed rather close to him. Ryan was a big help, getting the cart and then helping them load up on the cardboard containers necessary. He even managed to swing a few toolsets that would come in handy, which was a big help since their own tools were lost in a box somewhere in the garage (the failure of marking it had rendered the attempt to find them again almost futile.)

"Jesus, can't imagine what damage that does to a wallet," he whispered and Arron found himself agreeing silently as they pulled up to the front and the cashier, with wide eyes, grabbed her scan gun automatically. The three of them stood silently as she went to task and after a few moments and quite a few beeps, she tapped the button to total. "Shit..."

Arron kept as quiet as possible but internally, he was screaming. With the total upwards of 4 digits, he knew he had no spare change left to buy anything outside of food. There was not enough for clothes, nothing to replace what he was wearing, and now he had little choice but to continue to wear whatever they managed to scrounge up from Erin's old clothes. For a moment, he was grateful they had kept his wife's clothes.

For a brief, every fleeting moment, that is...