“Betty and I don’t live like that anymore,” said Bill. “We learned the hard way, believe me. But then we realised how much better off we’d be if we actually concentrated the most on ourselves.”

“How selfish does that sound?” Betty laughed.

Bill joined in. “It does sound selfish, I admit. And hey, it is selfish! But there’s nothing wrong with being selfish, Austin. It’s the American way.”

They got to the door, and Betty knocked.

“Ask to speak to Cole,” she said softly, smiling.

“He’ll be in his panic room,” said Austin. “It’s past eight. We have a curfew. His parents won’t let him out.”

“You’ll have to be persuasive, then. When you see him, ask him where he put the key. Maybe even ask him if he’d give it to you. After that, I promise, we’ll remove him from your life.”

Bill put a fatherly hand on Austin’s shoulder, as Cole himself answered the door.

Austin blinked. He hadn’t been expecting this. The curfew.

Cole’s eyes went to Bill first, then Betty, and lingered there for a moment, then he glanced downwards at Austin and frowned.

Bill gave Austin’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Hi, Cole,” said Austin.

Cole adopted that slow-blinking expression of his. “What?” he said gruffly.

“You, uh, you have a key,” said Austin. “I think you took it from a car earlier today.”

“Probably entirely innocently!” said Betty, and laughed. “We’re certainly not accusing you of anything, Cole. Dear Lord, no.”

Bill joined in, smiling. “But we do kind of need it, I’m afraid.”

“Didn’t take no key,” Cole said.

“You see that?” said Betty. “It’s so insignificant you didn’t even notice you’d taken it! I knew you didn’t do it on purpose!”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cole said. He went to shut the door, but Bill stopped it with his foot.

“Are your parents home, by any chance?” he asked. “I know you have a festival tonight, and everyone’s looking forward to it, but if we could have a word with your dad, I’m sure we’ll sort everything out.”

“He’s my stepdad,” said Cole.

“Is he in? Or your mom herself, maybe?”

Cole looked at them all, thinking slow thoughts. Then his eyes settled on Austin. “I remember a key now. Didn’t think anyone owned it. Austin, you wanna come get it with me?”

“He sure would!” said Bill, and lightly pushed Austin into the house.

“Come on,” said Cole, and walked off. Austin hesitated, but with Bill and Betty crowding him from behind, he figured anywhere was better than staying where he was.