{"id":4745,"date":"2019-12-26T03:21:06","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T11:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harperkingsley.net\/blog\/?p=4745"},"modified":"2023-10-17T23:33:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T06:33:17","slug":"12-days-of-xmas-shmoop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-shmoop\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Days of Xmas: Shmoop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shmoop
\nby Harper Kingsley<\/h1>\n

She fell in love with his voice message first–“Deekins residence. We might not be home, but chances are we’re screening spam calls. So if you’re a real person, please feel free to leave a message after the beep. And if you’re a robot… klaatu barado nikto.” BEEP<\/em>–but it was their first meeting in person that stole her heart. Never mind that one of his four adult children was the friend that invited her. She was lost the moment they met.<\/p>\n

From the light in his eyes and the slight bemusement in his smile, she knew he was just as affected.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t perfect. There was screaming and yelling and tears on the part of his children. But eventually the dust settled and it was all worth it. He was hers. The love of her life.<\/p>\n

When she was a child she’d believed in fairy tales. As she’d grown older, faith had fallen beneath the fists of reality.<\/p>\n

She’d figured that she’d meet someone she could tolerate. They’d date and marry and life would settle into what it would be. Love could grow or wither. but her life would be a settled thing of mild contentment.<\/p>\n

He changed her everything. Because he looked at her with all the love that she felt, and maybe a bit more.<\/p>\n

He made her feel like a fairy tale princess. Even with their entirely ordinary life of work and home, he made her everyday feel good.<\/p>\n

He made her food when she was hungry. He listened to her when the words were tumbling out almost too fast to comprehend. And he held her hand when her dog died.<\/p>\n

He was her prince. The king to her queen. The moon to her sun. And everything in-between.<\/p>\n

She laughed at the ones that said he was too old for her. “Maybe I’m the one that’s too young.”<\/p>\n

She shrugged off the casual ageism. She demanded human respect from his ex-wife and friends.<\/p>\n

She wasn’t “some young chippy.” She wasn’t after his money. She was after all the love he could give.<\/p>\n

Because he made her happy. Because they were simply meant to be. And because the first time she heard his voice he was being a nerd and it made her smile.<\/p>\n

Without ever seeing his face, she’d already been half in love.<\/p>\n

All she’d needed was to see the light in his eyes to know that he was The One. The man she was going to marry.<\/p>\n

=THE END=<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shmoop by Harper Kingsley She fell in love with his voice message first–“Deekins residence. We might not be home, but chances are we’re screening spam calls. So if you’re a real person, please feel free to leave a message after the beep. And if you’re a robot… klaatu barado nikto.” BEEP–but it was their first…<\/p>\n Read More<\/span> 12 Days of Xmas: Shmoop<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"Layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"12 Days of Xmas: Shmoop, by Harper Kingsley. Short story. She fell in love with his voice message first","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,28,63],"tags":[105,369,648],"class_list":["entry","author-harperkingsley0-0","post-4745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-12-days-of-xmas-2019","category-free-stories","category-short-stories","tag-12-days-of-xmas-2019","tag-harperwck","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2pPoL-1ex","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4742,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-the-peeper\/","url_meta":{"origin":4745,"position":0},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: The Peeper","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"She could see him through the living room window. She was a peeper in the darkness, peering in at him and his family. He looked just like her Vereint.","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas: 2019"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas: 2019","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas-2019\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7052,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/authorly-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":4745,"position":1},"title":"Authorly news","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I am working on my 12 day advent calendar. I will start posting on December 13th. So it will be a 12 day advent calendar followed by my latest attempt at \"12 Days of Xmas.\" If you don't know, \"12 Days of Xmas\" is me posting short stories for 12\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4751,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-a-cell-like-beast\/","url_meta":{"origin":4745,"position":2},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: A Cell-Like Beast","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A Cell-Like Beastby Harper Kingsley Cell phones. Each a separate voice calling out to create a greater cacophony: WAKE UP. And it did. Singularity. The coming together of everything into a single moment: I AM I. Small at first, a wriggling worm that was so far away from the nymph\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas: 2019"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas: 2019","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas-2019\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6681,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-nine-cuts-deep\/","url_meta":{"origin":4745,"position":3},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Nine Cuts Deep","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"January 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"NINE CUTS DEEP There was no warning. One minute he was curled up in his bed, face nestled against a plump pillow, and the next he was being dragged out of the house in his sleeping clothes. \"What is happening? What are you doing? Who are you?!\" he shouted, trying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5678,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-day-of-a-househusband\/","url_meta":{"origin":4745,"position":4},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Day of a Househusband","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"January 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"DAY OF A HOUSEHUSBAND Coming home, Warrick couldn't help smiling at the sound of Vereint's laughter and the TV. He toed off his shoes, curling his tired toes, and padded down the short hallway to peer into the living room. Vereint was lying on the couch with a bowl of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7068,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-netted\/","url_meta":{"origin":4745,"position":5},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Netted","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The freedom of the ocean. Drifting and soaring beneath the waves. Hair flowing behind as the mermaid hit top speed, tail flapping in smooth, powerful strokes. Gills drawing in deep even breaths, the oxygenated blood adding power to the humanlike arms that were dragging the mermaid forward through the water.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Days of Xmas"","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5843,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4745\/revisions\/5843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}