Page 57 of Learning Little Lizzie

Daddy pressed a kiss to her hair. “I’m very much looking forward to trying new things with you, Lizzie.”

“Me too, Daddy.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Mrs. Cat said with a genuine smile. “Do you have any more questions about boundaries and limits, Eliza?”

“Daddy said I’m not a failure even though I stopped a punishment with my safe word. Is that true?”

“It’s absolutely true. Telling your Daddy what you need is never a bad thing. You can’t be expected to enjoy or even endure every single thing, Eliza. Nobody can. Everyone has limits, and those limits look different for everyone. But the one thing we all have in common is that setting limits, or even stopping something we thought we could handle because we realized it’s too much, does not make us failures.”

She hadn’t had much of a choice but to believe her Daddy earlier. But Mrs. Cat was a doctor, and doctors weren’t allowed to lie. It was against the law, or something. “Okay. I believe you.”

“Good girl. Now, your Daddy wanted me to ask you some questions about school and how you process things. Are you feeling up to those questions right now?”

“Um, I guess. Sure.”

“Good. But just like your punishment earlier, you can tell me if you need to stop. If you get overwhelmed or uncomfortable, we can stop and come back to the questions later. Deal?”

“Deal.”

CHAPTER 21

Leaning back a bit, Mrs. Cat opened her bag and pulled out a large binder that she placed on her lap. “I talked to some of your teachers and they said you have a habit of forgetting assignments. Would you say that happens sometimes? Or even a lot?”

Heat snuck into Eliza’s cheeks. “A lot. I don’t mean to. But sometimes I get busy doing other stuff and then it just kinda… poofs out of my head.”

“I see. Does that ‘poof’ happen with other things? Like appointments or important dates?”

“Yeah,” she admitted with a sigh. “If it wasn’t for social media I don’t think I’d remember anyone’s birthdays.”

Mrs. Cat’s smile was full of understanding. “It is pretty helpful, huh? What about physical things? Do you have a tendency to lose things?”

“All the time. It’s been easier the past few days because Daddy makes me put my important things in their proper place every night. But before that I used to lose stuff all the time. It used to drive Kylie a little nuts because I was always running late because I couldn’t find my shoes or my phone or my bookbag.”

There were lots more questions, and by the time they finished, Eliza was feeling a little sick to her stomach. So many questions, not just about forgetting stuff but her emotions and thoughts. And none of it sounded particularly good.

But Mrs. Cat didn’t look worried or upset, so she tried to tell herself it was okay. And Daddy’s arms around her made it a little easier.

“One last thing and then I think we can be done for tonight. Eliza, when you were little, were you ever on any medication?”

“No.” She paused, her mind scrambling to parse the question. “I mean, when I got sick, yeah. But I didn’t have any kind of medicine I took every day. Is that what you mean?”

“That’s exactly what I mean. Did you ever talk to a doctor like me about not being able to focus in class and the other things we talked about?”

“No.” Eliza shrugged. “I got in trouble in school a lot and I know my parents were disappointed I didn’t turn out to be super smart like them, but I never talked to a doctor about it.”

“It makes me sad that you don’t think you’re smart, Eliza. I think you’re a very bright Little girl.”

“Oh. Um, well, thank you.” Nobody had called her bright before. Her parents had called her smart a lot, but usually just to remind her she was “too smart to be failing math” or “too smart to be ruining her life” because she couldn’t keep a job. Nobody had ever just told her she was smart or bright as a no-strings-attached compliment.

“You’re very welcome, Eliza. I have a friend who works specifically with people in the BDSM community and she specializes in ADHD and other neurodivergence in women. If I called her, would you be willing to talk some more with her?”

The panic she’d felt earlier when Daddy had told her Dr. Denten was coming to visit welled up inside her again. “Do you think there’s something wrong with my brain?”

“No, sweetheart. I think your brain is just beautiful. I do, however, think you might benefit from some medicine that will help you focus a little better. And I have some suggestions I printed out for you and your Daddy to look at. Like having a set schedule with routines clearly spelled out, keeping your assignments listed out where you can see them every day, things like that. Dr. Williams will probably have some more suggestions, but these should get you started.”

Reaching out, she took the paper from Mrs. Cat without bothering to look at it before she passed it to Daddy. She was starting to get that panicky, this-is-all-too-much feeling again. “Daddy, what’s for dinner? I hope it’s not green beans.”

“And that’s our cue to stop.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Good girl letting Daddy know you were feeling overwhelmed, baby. Why don’t you go lie down with your bear and I’ll see Mrs. Cat out.”

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