Chapter 22

After the session,Mandi headed back to her room to think things through. Ms. Cat had been so lovely, but the whole experience had raised so many questions for her about what she wanted to do and who she wanted to be.

Mommy Amelia had suggested she might need some processing and decompression time after therapy, so she shot off a quick text to let her know that it went well, and to explain that she was going to maybe have a bath and relax.

But when she went to put her phone down, it rang. It was her cousin, Ralphie, calling.

"Hey, cuz!" he said, his tone buoyant. "How're you finding the Ranch?"

Popping the phone on loudspeaker, Mandi slipped her shoes off and clambered under the bed covers, pulling the blankets up tight around her. "Hey, Ralphie, it's… good."

"Just good? That sounds concerning. Is it not going the way you wanted it to?"

"No, no," she reassured him, "Everyone here is lovely! I just had a counseling session, and it was a whole lot."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "Counseling? I didn't know they offered that."

"Yes, they have two psychologists on staff, fully qualified, and Master Derek suggested that it would be a good idea for me to see one. The taxicab driver was a bit mean when I arrived and I got a little upset and…" Her voice trailed off. "But it's okay, because the staff here dealt with it amazingly, and set me up with Dr. Denten."

"That sounds really positive, Mandi," he said. "And how about the rest of it? Are you doing lots of fun things?" She could almost hear him waggle his eyebrows, and in the background heard his fiancé Nate say, "Honestly, Ralphie, let your cousin have some privacy."

She giggled. "Well actually, I might have met someone."

"You have? Who? Tell me everything!"

"Her name's Amelia Grayson and she's the head librarian for the Littles' Library, here on the Ranch."

"Oh yeah? Is she all prim and proper?"

"Some of the other Littles think she's a bit intimidating, but I think she's lovely."

"Proper Mommy Domme vibes, eh?"

Mandi blushed and her answering silence told Ralphie everything he needed to know.

"You've found a Mommy Domme! Mandi, that's amazing!" But then, once he'd taken a breath, Ralphie realized the thing that had also been bothering Mandi. "But you're only there for a week?—"

"I've been thinking about that," she cut in. "Ralphie, do you think it would be weird if I stayed?"

His voice sounded serious when he answered. "You've only known her for three days, Mandi sweetheart. I'm not sure that changing your life for someone?—"

"It wouldn't be for her," Mandi explained. "It'd be for me. Sure, I'd like to keep seeing where this relationship goes, but more than that, I feel like I belong here. The outside world is so big and overwhelming for me; so loud, and so unaccommodating. And my one bastion of safety—the bookshop—is closing, so I'll have to find a new job anyways. I've been working as an assistant librarian here, and… and… and…" She ran out of steam.

"It sounds like you've been really unhappy," he said gently.

"I have," she said. "And not just because of my ex."

"Your super-shitty ex," he corrected.

"Yes, my super-stinky ex," she agreed, switching out the curse word for one that she knew Mommy Amelia would approve of. "You know what it's like, being neurodiverse in a world that's not built for us."

"Yes, I really do. And it's not like either of us had the best family around to support us."

She shook her head in agreement, and then repeated it again so that he could hear. "No, we didn't." Ralphie's parents had disowned him when he'd come out, and his grandfather (not hers) had taken him in. And while Mandi's parents hadn't been openly homophobic, they certainly hadn't understood her. After she'd gone to college and moved out, she'd managed to drift out of their lives without some big blow up.

"So you wouldn't move in with Amelia, is it?"

"Yes, and no, I don't think so. I still need to talk to her about it, and to Master Derek, but if it's an option, I'm seriously considering it."

"Look," said Ralphie, and Mandi didn't know when she'd ever heard him be so serious for a prolonged amount of time. "Life is too short to be unhappy. I think you should go for it; maybe do a trial run, see how it goes, and don't sell your duplex until you're certain."

"That… that could work," Mandi agreed. "Thank you, Ralphie. And you'd come and visit?"

"Of course Nate and I will come and visit!" said Ralphie, "I wanna check out that Dungeon!"

Hearing Nate groaning and whisper-shouting that stuff was private, Mandi giggled and said goodbye, not completely sure her cousin actually even heard her.