It would have to be.

Liar.

No. Not a liar, he replied to the jeering voice inside his head. Just a realist. It was the only way he’d be able to cope.

He was in love with Anna.

How was that for honesty? It had been growing for months, and he’d tried to sidestep that truth, but he could now no longer avoid it. It was pathetic, really. And he’d put himself in this position by isolating himself so completely from the rest of humanity. Of course he was going to form a deep connection with the only person he’d talked to properly for years. He should have seen it coming.

And that person had been Anna. That had been his undoing. When she’d first phoned, he’d thought he was just being kind, helping her out. He’d had no idea that she’d give him far more than he could ever give her. Couldn’t she have been some whiny, self-absorbed woman who had irritated him? That might have been preferable. He’d have been able to block her number and forget about her. Damn Anna for being so brave and surprising. He hadn’t really stood a chance.

‘It’s impossible,’ he said out loud to no one, except maybe Lewis, who had put his head back down on his paws but was still looking at Brody. He sighed again, and his gaze wandered around his study. Eventually, it landed on his Not Elf. After her rescue from Moji’s shop, he’d put her back on the bookshelf beside his chair.

Usually, she seemed to be staring far off into the distance, but tonight he had the strangest sensation that she was looking right back at him, staring into his eyes. Challenging him.

Why? she was saying to him. Why is it impossible?

That was the problem with having a good imagination. She was a lump of wood, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was just like the woman who had inspired her creation, full of questions that seemed simple but were actually terrifically complicated to answer.

You know why, he replied. It just is.

Chapter Forty-Six

ANNA STARED UP at the tall, wedge-shaped building that sat opposite Bromley South station. It was a bright, crisp autumn day and the sun glinted off the modern tower, making its glazed section almost too bright to look at. She felt a tremor in her stomach. This was where Rhys and Vijay, Spencer’s former business partners, now had their offices on the seventeenth floor.

Anna blew out a breath, stuck her hands in her coat pockets and marched herself up to the reception desk on the ground floor of the building. She hadn’t seen Spencer’s old partners for more than a year now, but she’d emailed them the Monday morning after her brainstorming session with Brody, outlining her idea for the app, asking them if they’d be interested in picking it up and running with it. They’d emailed back and asked for a meeting within forty-eight hours.