In My Place Ch. 02

"There!" she exclaimed. "Now we are all ready to go. Come on Laura."

She took my hand in hers, squeezing gently as if to reassure me and we left the house. This was a first for me. I was actually out of the safety and privacy of my own home and I was dressed as a woman. I think if my heart had beaten any faster I would have vibrated! There was -- thankfully -- nobody about and we made it to my wife's car. She drove. I sat, nervous beyond belief, in the passenger seat. We made it to our destination without incident and I just sat there, gaping.

We had not come to a lingerie store -- the staple of many a story I had read. We had not come to a boutique. We had come to ASDA! In some respects this was a lot easier; lots of aisles, lots of corners to duck behind. In some ways it was a lot worse; lots of people, lots of staff. And lots of dangerous ways to be found out. What was she thinking?

I always imagined my first time out - if there was to be such a time -being late at night, under cover of darkness, or perhaps driving to some really remote spot. Now, I was sitting in my wife's car about to go grocery shopping. To this day, I do not understand why I did not have a heart attack right on the spot.

"I'll give you 5 minutes to compose yourself then we are going shopping. Understand?"

I nodded. Sarah poked me in the ribs. "Do you understand?"

I said yes as I tried to shrink away from her. I took several deep breaths. I checked myself in the mirror. I grasped the handle and opened the door. I got out of the car and stood in the car park. There were lots of people about but not one of them looked my way. Phew!

My manoeuvre had surprised Sarah, who was just getting out of the car. She grinned at me again.

"You go, girl!" she cheered. "Now let's shop."

And we did. We went grocery shopping and I loved it. Sure, I got a few glances, a few puzzled frowns from some of the women and one or two slightly uncomfortable stares from some of the guys but nothing came of it. Nobody bothered us at all. I actually began to really enjoy myself. And when we got to the cosmetics aisle I enjoyed myself immensely. It was great. Right up to the moment when Sarah decided to be a little mischievous.

"Laura, I am just going to get something down here," she said. "Go and get a couple of salmon fillets from the fish counter. Oh, and make sure they are fresh."

With that, she was gone, leaving me panic stricken and alone. I looked over at the fish counter. The man serving there was about mid-twenties and athletically built. Oh God! She promised this wouldn't happen. I might look the part in anything less than close scrutiny but my voice? What could I do? Shit!! Of course, I knew the rule. I knew that one all-encompassing rule and I knew what would happen if I broke it. Shit, again!!

Piling up what little courage I had, I approached the fish counter. The young man stood expectantly.

"Can I help you, madam?" he asked politely. What could I do? Should I put on some sort of stupid falsetto whine? Would that work? I doubted it very much. Should I try to lift my voice a little? It would sound false. I decided on the one course of action that I thought might work. I spoke normally.

"Could I have two of those salmon fillets please?" I pointed at them, hoping he would look away from me. He didn't. He just stood and looked at me. A slow smile began and I thought 'here we go, public humiliation time'.

"Of course, 'miss'. I'll get them right away, 'miss'."

I swear you could hear the speech marks. I knew what was about to happen. He was going to call people over. He was going to make sure everybody saw me for what I was. I felt like running out of the store.

He then picked two fillets from the display, wrapped them in a foil=fresh bag and handed them to me. He winked.

"Well done, love. That took guts. And you look fantastic too. Hope to see you again soon."

That was unexpected. This young man had made me, had known exactly what I was and didn't seem to mind one bit! And he was complimentary too. Wow!

"Did you get them, Laura?" my wife's voice came from behind me. "Did you get the salmon?"

"Erm...oh, yes, yes. Here it is." I was stunned. I saw a smile flash between Sarah and the young man on the fish counter and we went on our way. We actually went to the coffee shop, thank goodness. I sat as Sarah got us a coffee, looking around at the other customers. One or two caught my eye but looked away instantly. One or two held my gaze for a few seconds. Nobody seemed to object to my existence and I began to relax.

We had our coffee and chatted about nothing in particular. We then left for the checkouts where, thankfully, Sarah did the packing, leaving me to unload the shopping cart. This meant that the girl on the checkout talked to Sarah, rather than me. We finished up, Sarah paid, and we left.

That was the first time I went out in public. It was heaven.

We got home without incident. We unloaded the car without a problem. My wife left me to put the groceries away. I heard her on the hall phone.

"Hi. Yeah, it's Sarah here. Are you ok for tonight?" I heard her say. "Ok then. See you about eight? Ok. Bye Tony."

I dropped a tin of peaches onto the tiled floor, my gasp still sounding as it struck. Sarah came rushing in, looking at me quizzically.

This time, a single tear did roll down my cheek. I had found out about my wife and Joe. I had come to terms with it, given what had happened between us. I had assumed that it was Joe on the telephone. In fact, my heart rate had doubled, thinking it was Joe and that there was a good chance of a repeat performance. But it wasn't Joe. It was someone called Tony; yet another man in my wife's secret life. I sobbed.

"Who is T..T..Tony?"