Then he notices the breakfast bar.
“Oh, wow,” he mutters.
That’s where the unfinished ones sit—dozens of them, still grey, waiting to dry. Some are completely shaped, others still need details carved into their beards, but they’re all lined up like tiny recruits awaiting inspection.
Theo gives me a look. “I feel like I should be more surprised by this, but somehow, I’m not.”
I scowl at him. “I needed something to do while I was stuck inside.”
He smirks. “So, naturally, you made a small army of gnomes.”
“It’s not an army,” I cross my arms, fully prepared to defend my choices. “I ordered too much clay.”
Theo raises an eyebrow. “And you had to use all of it?”
“Well, obviously,” I say, as if that should be clear. “At first, I thought I’d try making a bowl.” I grab the thing from the shelf behind me and hold it up. It’s supposed to be round, but it’s—well… not. More like a lumpy oval with uneven edges, a slight dip in one side like it gave up halfway through drying.
Theo stares at it, then blinks. “Right. That’s… a bowl.”
I huff. “It was my first attempt.”
Lucy peeks up from the coffee table, looking intrigued. “It looks wobbly.”
“Thanks, Lu,” I mutter, setting it back down. “Then I thought, okay, jewellery. So, I made some little pendants and beads. But it turns out, the clay was too brittle when it dried, and most of them cracked. Some just snapped when I tried to thread them onto anything.”
I grab a small dish where I’ve stashed a few. Some of the pendants are still intact, but a couple have jagged edges where they broke. Theo picks one up, turning it over in his fingers.
“Yeah,” I say, sighing. “Not exactly a success.”
“So, after all that… gnomes?” he asks, eyeing my coffee table.
I shrug. “I saw some online, thought they looked fun. And they are fun. Plus, they’re easy to make. You don’t have to worry about symmetry or anything. Just a hat, a nose, and a beard.” I gesture to the coffee table, where my little flock (no, it is definitelynotan army) stands proudly. “See? No faces, no stress.”
Lucy has been staring at them this whole time, completely entranced. Her little hands hover just above the table, like she’s dying to pick one up but doesn’t quite dare.
I smirk, then crouch down beside her. “You know,” I say casually, “I could let you have one.”
Her eyes snap to mine, wide and sparkling. “Really?”
I nod. “If you want one, you can pick from the painted ones.”
She gasps, looking back at the table like I’ve just asked her to choose a favourite star in the sky. “But which one?”she whispers, overwhelmed by the sheer responsibility of the task.
Theo chuckles. “Take your time, Lu. It’s a big decision.”
Lucy nods seriously, then begins her inspection, picking up each gnome gently, turning them over in her tiny hands, and murmuring things like, “This one’s got a nice hat,” and “Ooooh, look at this beard.”
Meanwhile, Theo nudges one of the little figures with his finger. “You know, you could sell these.”
I snort. “Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious,” he says, folding his arms. “People would buy them.”
I roll my eyes. “They’re not that good.”
“They don’t have to be perfect. They just have to be cute. And these?” He gestures at the coffee table. “They’re cute.”
I shake my head, unconvinced. “No one’s gonna buy my weird little gnomes.”
