"Thanks so much again for driving me," Anna said when they were still an hour away from the Lakes.

"It's no problem. You're on my way."

"I know, but it's still a bit out of your way."

"I already said it's fine. You're giving me petrol money, I'll still be on time to meet Sven at the campsite. Don't worry about it."

Anna hesitated for a moment.

"Because I was wondering, actually," she said, "if you could do me another huge favour."

"...oh?"

Anna bit her lip, glanced at him, then rushed on. "You see, when this trip was planned I was going to bring my boyfriend, and my cousin Stephanie? She was really keen to meet him, well, she's never met any of my boyfriends because it just never works out that way and we have this joke, well, she has this joke, about how they're all imaginary or all such losers that I can't stand to introduce them to anyone. And anyway I was going to bring Rob this time and I told them all I had this great new boyfriend and they would all meet him and everything. And then. Last week, we broke up." She sighed. "And I just said, to Steph, something about how he might not be able to come and she's been teasing me all week by text message and winding me up and I can't stand five days of it. I can't. So. I was wondering. I haven't told them anything about this boyfriend, because they were all going to meet him, I haven't even told them his name, so -"

"No."

"What? I haven't even got to the favour yet."

"It's no."

"All I need is to introduce you, then say you're off to do your mountain-climbing thing or whatever, then I don't know, kiss me on the cheek and leave and that'll be it. You'll never see any of them ever again."

"No."

"Please. Please. Just for five minutes while you're in the house. It's just my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle, and my two cousins. You don't have to do anything other than say hello."

"You're mad. No."

Anna pouted and slid down in her seat. "Fine."

They drove on in silence.

Then she said, "I'll go to France."

"What?"

"The Year Six day trip to France. I'll take your place. I know you asked Shirley if you could not go because you wanted to go to a wedding, and she said only if you found another teacher to take your place, and no one wants to because it's a Saturday and ridiculous hours. But I'll do it."

"If I pretend to be your boyfriend."

"Just while you're at the house, yes."

"It's worth that much to you."

"I know it's pathetic. But, yes."

He really wanted to go to that wedding. It was one of his oldest friends, and he'd been gutted when he realised it was the same day as the trip. And he hadn't been especially wild about spending twenty hours - half on a coach, half in a foreign country - with sixty excitable eleven-year-olds as it was.

This was supposed to be a favour for a colleague, and a way to save some money on his drive up here for his half-term camping holiday, by delivering Anna to her family holiday ten miles away. That was all he was going to do.

But it was true he'd never meet any of her family ever again. And it was also true that he didn't want to go to France. Oh, what the hell. What the hell.

"Okay," he said. "I'll do it."

"You will?"

"Just for as long as I'm in the house. I will pretend to be your boyfriend, or at least will not deny it if introduced as such."

"Thank you."

"And you'll tell Shirley first thing next week that you'll take my place on the trip."

"I will."

"Okay." He took one hand off the wheel and held it out to her. She shook it. "Deal."

The rented farmhouse where Anna's family were spending their holiday was down the end of a long dirt track. Kristoff's old Landrover bumped along, and Anna exclaimed over how glad she was that they were in his car and not her tiny hatchback (Kristoff privately wondered how she would have fit the two suitcases she apparently needed for five days in the back of her car, anyway). He parked to one side of the house and helped her get her cases out of the boot.

Anna knocked cheerfully on the door. After a minute it was opened by a middle-aged woman in a blue jumper who shouted "Anna! Anna's here!" and hugged her. She beckoned them in and Kristoff followed them both through into a large, cosy kitchen at the back of the house.

"Hi everyone!" Anna said. "We're here!"

"Anna!" An elderly lady stood up from her armchair and walked over to hug her. "It's so wonderful to see you, my dear! And who is this? Your young man?"

"This is Kristoff," Anna said, smiling and putting her hand on his arm. "He's not staying, I'm afraid, he's going over to Coniston to meet a friend, and they're going to do mountain climbing and biking and kayaking and all kinds of things. But we drove up together. Kristoff, this is my grandma."

"A pleasure to meet you, Mrs Rendell," Kristoff said, hoping that was right, but apparently it was because no one corrected him.

"And this is my grandad," Anna said, gesturing around the room, "And my Uncle John and Aunt Caroline, and my cousins Stephanie and Chloe. Everyone, this is Kristoff. My boyfriend."

"Hi," Kristoff said, and smiled round the room.

"You're not staying?" one of the younger women said. Chloe.

"Oh, no," Kristoff said. "I want to get over to Coniston before it starts to storm."

"Probably wise," John said, "But you'll stop for a cup of tea, at least?"

"Ah -"

"Let him go, John," Caroline said. "He's right, it looks nasty out there. Well, it was lovely to meet you, Kristoff, even if only briefly."

"And you," he said. "Well, Anna, I'd best be off."

"Of course," she said. "Well, drive safe, let me know when you get there…" She raised her eyebrows at him. Oh, right, he was supposed to kiss her. He leant down and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Give her a proper kiss, lad," Anna's grandad said from the sink, where he was filling the kettle. "Don't mind us."

Kristoff looked at Anna. She gave a tiny shrug. Oh, sod it.

He put his hand to the side of her face and kissed her on the lips. Anna leant into it, and it was a few seconds before they parted.

"Okay, well," Kristoff said. "I'll see you all on Friday." He waved to the room and left.

"He seems nice," he heard Anna's grandma say as he went out the front door, then he was back in his car. Job done, and he had a free Saturday in July to go to the wedding.

As he started the engine his phone beeped. Thanks so much, very convincing! See you Friday x A

It was already raining as he pulled away, big fat drops that soon turned the track to thick mud. Kristoff had to drive slowly, windscreen wipers thrashing. Surely this couldn't last long. But the rain kept coming.

Once he was out on the main road - or the paved road, at least - he thought it would be easier, but no. The road was so narrow and high-banked it was basically a stream, with large pools collecting in the dips. He pulled over at the side of the road to find a new route on his phone, but he had no signal at all and it was no use.

He tried to push on a bit further. The road opened out and he thought he was in the clear, until it dropped down next to a river - and was completely underwater. As far as he could see through the pouring rain, it was flooded, and no way to tell how deep it was or if it was safe to try and cross.

He was going to have to go back to the house. Bugger.

The dirt track was a running river by now, but Kristoff made his way along it eventually. He parked as close to the house as he could, then pulled his jacket over his head and made a dash for the door.

This time it was opened by one of the younger women - Stephanie? - who just stared at him for a second before calling over her shoulder "Anna! It's your boyfriend."

"Who?" Anna said, then "Oh! Well, let him in, don't make him stand in the rain."

Stephanie stepped back to let him in, then shut the door and walked away and back into the kitchen without another word. Anna came out into the hall. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. No. The road is washed out by the river, it's completely impassable in this weather."

"Oh, no," Anna said. "Is there no other road?"

"No, not that I can see. I'll have a look on my phone, if there's any wifi here?"

"Ah, no. There isn't."

"Bugger. I've no signal."

"It'll be getting dark soon," a voice said behind them. They turned and saw Anna's Uncle John standing in the kitchen door. "You don't want to be trailing around the countryside in this weather. Stop here tonight and make another go at it tomorrow."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly…"

"It's no problem! You'll have to bunk up with Anna but I assume you don't mind that," and he laughed.

"Uncle," Anna said.

"And he can help me peel the potatoes. Just making a lovely cottage pie," he said. "What you need on a night like this, eh? Bring your bag in and Anna'll show you which room is yours."

Kristoff looked at Anna. Her expression was one of barely-concealed panic. "I -" he said.

"We can't share a room," Anna said quickly. "What will Grandma think?"

John waved dismissively. "She thought you were bringing him anyway. She's resigned to it, just don't mention it in front of her so we can all pretend it's not happening."

Anna and Kristoff looked at each other. "I guess you'll have to stay," Anna said.

"I guess so."

Nightmare. Nightmare. Kristoff had run out into the rain and returned with a huge rucksack, then before Anna could take him upstairs - and have a private conversation with him - Aunt Caroline was already showing him to the bedrooms. Anna walked slowly back into the kitchen, her stomach flipping. Would he go along with it? Would he reveal her to be a liar in front of everyone? He just had to be friendly and nice, she supposed. He could manage that for an evening, surely?

"So, Kristoff," Aunt Caroline said as soon as they were back in the room with everyone else, "Anna says you work together?"

"Ah, yes. I teach Year Six."

"The big kids."

"Bigger than her Year One, yes. Twice as big, some of them. Ten and eleven year olds."

"The little ones are so sweet," Chloe said, stirring a saucepan on the hob.

"Exactly," Anna said.

"You just like the little ones because you get to do more crafts," Kristoff said, walking over to the cutting board and picking up the vegetable peeler. "You should see her classroom, glitter everywhere." Everyone laughed and Anna flushed.

"You just like the big ones because they know how to sit quietly at their desks," she said.

Kristoff shrugged. "That, and teaching Year Six means I've not yet had to clean wee off the floor, yeah."

"Billy tries his best," Anna said.

"By the time they get to me they're like proper little people," Kristoff said. "They've still got a lot to learn but you can talk to them the same as adults, explain things and they get it."

"My brother teaches teenagers," Caroline said. "He loves it, but I don't think I could stick it for long. Well, everyone's different, and it's a good job."

Anna pulled a chair out from the table and sat down. It was okay; he was going along with it. He was even peeling potatoes, for goodness sake. This was fine. This was all going to be fine.

It was nearly ten by the time dinner was finished and all the dishes washed. The older people retired first, then after only the four younger ones were left Anna declared herself exhausted from the long drive and she and Kristoff left to go upstairs.

Kristoff went first to the bathroom to brush his teeth and returned in his pyjamas. When Anna came back wearing hers, she found him unrolling a sleeping bag on the floor of the room.

"What are you doing?"

"Good job this was in my rucksack," he said. "Can I have a pillow, though?"

The words you don't have to sleep on the floor were on her tongue but she bit them back. Of course, this was the perfect solution. No one would know they hadn't shared the bed, without them having to actually share the bed. And he had a sleeping bag, and the floor in here was probably still more comfortable than the ground he'd been planning to sleep on, so she didn't feel bad about him having to sleep there. She picked up one of the pillows on the bed and tossed it to him.

"Thanks."

"No, thank you. I'm so sorry this has been going on - I didn't know if you'd go along with it -"

He shrugged. "I'm not going to humiliate you in front of your whole family. And I got a good dinner out of it. And I'm definitely not going to France."

Anna laughed. "I can hardly say you didn't keep up your end of the bargain, can I."

"So your grandparents here are your father's parents?" Kristoff said.

"Yes."

"And, I'd guess - your Uncle John is your dad's brother?"

"Yes."

"You look similar."

"Thanks for that."

"Around the eyes, obviously I don't mean you look like a fifty-year-old man."

"I should hope not."

"Where are your parents, couldn't they make it?"

"Well, no. What with their having been dead for ten years."

He looked at her sharply, but she clearly wasn't joking. "They died in a car accident when I was fifteen. I probably should have told you that," she said at his expression.

"Yes, I think so. Anything else I should know so I don't look like a complete doughnut in front of everybody?"

"Um." Anna climbed into the bed and lay down. "I have an older sister, she's like three years older than me? Her name's Elsa."

"Oh yes, your grandma asked if I knew what Elsa was up to, but she didn't seem to expect me to know so I said she'd have to ask you." Kristoff turned off the overhead light and got into his sleeping bag. Anna switched off the lamp by the bed once he was settled.

"She lives in London. Works in finance. Even I don't know what she's up to most of the time. But other than that….my mum was an only child and her parents died when I was little. Dad just had the one brother, so yeah, this is pretty much my whole family, except Elsa."

They lay there in silence for a moment.

"I'll probably push off straight after breakfast tomorrow," Kristoff said. "The roads are probably still not great so it'll take a while."

"Okay."

"And I'm sorry to hear about your mum and dad."

"Thanks. It was a long time ago."

More silence.

"Goodnight, then."

"Goodnight."