Moji’s shop was as good a place as any to start, partly because it had been a challenging situation in the past, and partly because Moji’s presence would help, but mostly because he’d been working all hours making wooden toys recently. Something was driving him, some lost creative urge.

Right. He balanced the box in one arm and reached out to knock on the glass. A couple of seconds later, Moji appeared. She beamed when she saw him, then unlocked the door and let him inside. He followed her through to the main area of the shop.

‘Cuppa?’ she said, waving an empty mug at him with a slogan across the front that read: Toyshop Owners Do It for Fun.

‘Please.’

Once tea was made, Moji set to work unpacking the box. She exclaimed and commented over every set of stacking rings and every pull-along dog (one of which looked remarkably like Lewis) or set of train tracks. However, when she got to the bottom of the box, she really started to gush. ‘Oh, wow! You made her for me!’ she said, unravelling an elegant elfin figure from the roll of bubble wrap. ‘She’s even prettier than the first!’

The new elf was indeed beautiful, even if Brody did say so himself. She had long limbs, pointed ears, and gently waving tresses. She clasped a longbow loosely, and there was a look of focus, of determination, on her finely featured face.

‘What am I going to do now?’ Moji said, laughing. ‘I don’t want to sell this one either!’

Brody smiled, but as she reached into the box to fetch the last item, he grew serious again. Moji looked up at him, a smile on her lips and a question in her eyes. ‘You made me more than one?’ She was still smiling as she started to unroll the protective layer of plastic bubbles.

‘Oh!’ Moji exclaimed again as she turned the little wooden figure over in her hands, inspecting it from every angle. ‘This one is different,’ she said.

Different, she certainly was, Brody thought. She was his Not Elf. He’d taken her down from the bookshelf in his study. While it had been nice to see her sitting there every evening, keeping him company, he thought it was probably better that he didn’t get too attached to her.

‘Are you sure—?’ Moji began to say, but at that moment the shop door opened and the old-fashioned bell above it jangled.

Brody froze. The hairs on his arms and on the back of his neck lifted. Ice cubes tumbled into his stomach and swirled around there. He began to breathe – in for three, hold for three, out for three. It was an exercise he’d repeated multiple times a day over the last few weeks and, as he began to feel the oxygen reach his bloodstream, muscle memory took over and he realized he had space in his brain for more than just the processing of oxygen.

He looked over to the shop door, where a woman in a chunky sweater and jeans was standing. She didn’t even make eye contact with him, just nodded at Moji and then began to browse in the books section.