Officer Shepherd✔️

bookshelf

MEREDITH

I bought a lot of things for the twins. I bought two child beds, bed sheets, pillows, some extra clothes, and some other things.

I walk inside and see that Derek is finished with the bookshelf it's standing against the wall on the left side of the room. but I don't see Derek or the kids anywhere.

I walk into the kitchen and see it's empty. I walk into my bedroom and see Derek and Daniel sitting on the floor whilst Emily is on the bed.

"what are you two trying to do?" I ask. "Hi. how do you organize your books?" Derek asks me. "Um, by series and then the standalones on their own shelf," I say. "which ones are in a series and which ones aren't?" he asks holding two books in his hands.

"he's going crazy," Daniel says. I smile as I walk over to Derek and take both books from his hands. "are those two in a series?" he asks looking up at me. "No, this one says 'off campus' here," I say pointing the bottom of the cover.

"and then this one says 'dirty air' here," I say pointing to the spine of the book. "and they're different sizes," I say. "but are those books in a series?" he asks. "yes, but different series," I say. "see, look," I say, getting on my knees.

"these four are in a series, see how the spines match? this one a the number one and this has the number two," I say. "so those two are a series?" he asks. "they're in a series, there's two more," I say picking up another two books.

"Well, how was I supposed to know? what if I thought there was more to the series?" He says. "did you actually think you were going to be able to do this?" I say. "yes, you talk about them a lot, I thought that would be enough," he says.

"that's cute," I say, kissing his cheek. "Well, I know all these are in one series," he says pointing to a stack of ten books. "those are two book series," I say. "but the covers match, I thought they would be in the same series!" he says picking up two of the books.

"Derek, those are two series but you read them in... that exact order, good for you," I say a bit surprised. "but you said they're two series," he says, putting the books down.

"they are, but they collide, one series is of two people and the other series is about her two sisters," he says. "that's confusing," he says. "what about those books? they match the covers of those ones but I thought ten books in one series is a lot so they can't be together," he says.

"same world, different people," I say. "how?!" he asks. "this series has eleven books and it's about they're kids," I say. "so there's twenty one books in that book world?" he says. "yes," I say. "and you've read all of them?" he asks.

"see these stickers that match the covers on the pages?" I say. he nods. "that means I did," I say. "I remember. how do you find tabs that match each books?" he asks. "I but them in bulks and then I rearrange them so all the colors are together,"

"what does that mean?" he says. "the pinks go with the pinks, the blues go with the blue, and the greens go with the greens, and so on," I say.

"you've read all these books?" Daniel asks. "yes, and I have another large package of books coming on Sunday," I say. "I thought you bought books in New York," Derek says.

"I did, but... I need more than that," I say. "seven books isn't enough?" he says. "are you crazy? of course not," I say. "Is Emily asleep?" I say, looking behind him seeing Emily laying on the bed.

"she's still sad mommy's not here yet," Daniel says. "yet," I whisper in Derek's ear before standing up. I walk over to the bed and sit down next to her.

"Emily," I say. "are you tired?" I ask softly. "No, when's mommy coming back?" she asks. I give Derek a look. "I don't think so, Emily," I say. she's rolls over not facing me as tears fill her eyes.

"I don't know what to tell her when she asks," I say getting up and walking over to Derek. "just tell her the same things over and over until she stops asking," he says.

"that sounds a little mean," I say. "Well, there's nothing much else to tell her," he says. "I guess I'll do that then," I say.

****

hours later, I have all my books on my bookshelf and the kids fell asleep after dinner. Derek decided to stay the night and we went to bed after a round of sex.

if I don't update for a while don't be surprised bc I'm running out of ideas.