Trust Me

with the coffee machine. Maybe Alison had calmed down during the night. With any luck she was even now in her car, heading toward Seattle to retrieve her sons.
    His half brothers.
    The realization that he was actually related to these two young males hit him with an unexpected impact.
    “Sorry about setting off the alarm last night,” Kyle offered.
    “Whenever we forget our keys to our house back in Portland, we get in through one of the windows,” Jason said. “We thought the same trick would work on your window.”
    “It doesn’t.” Stark reached for a mug.
    There was a short, taut silence from the table.
    “You mad at us?” Kyle asked.
    “No.” Stark got a bowl out of the cupboard and poured cereal into it. “I just wasn’t expecting you last night.”
    “I told Kyle you’d be mad.” Jason took a large swallow of orange juice. “I told him you’d put us back on the bus this morning.”
    Stark thought about that possibility. It was definitely an option. Better yet, he could put them on a plane. The flight to Portland was very short. If he drove them to the airport right after breakfast, they’d be home by midmorning.
    “How long did you intend to stay in Seattle?” he asked.
    Kyle and Jason exchanged glances.
    “Just for a while,” Kyle said. He busied himself with his cereal.
    “Kyle said we could stay with you for the summer,” Jason blurted out.
    “The summer.” Stark glanced at his brothers. “You intended to stay for the entire summer?”
    Kyle nodded wordlessly.
    “Of all the – “ Stark broke off abruptly. He added milk to his cereal and leaned back against the kitchen counter to eat.
    Allowing the boys to stay with him for the summer was definitely out of the question. He supposed it wouldn’t matter much if they stayed for a night or two, but they certainly could not stay for three months. He didn’t even know these kids. They were strangers.
    Strangers who happened to have the same father.
    “Things have been different since Mom and Dad got divorced,” Kyle said in a low voice.
    “Dad says he and Mom have grown apart.” Jason spoke in the sing song tone a child uses to repeat verbatim something an adult has said out that he does not comprehend. “He says they’re different people than they were when they got married.”
    “Uh-huh.” Stark munched cereal. He had heard the same explanations when he was ten.
    “I don’t think they’re different,” Jason said roughly. “They still look the same to me.”
    Kyle’s mouth formed a thin line. “Mom says Dad’s tired of us. She says he’s got no sense of responsibility. She says he’s screwing his bimbo secretary.”
    Jason looked up angrily. “So what? Mom’s screwing our shrink.”
    Kyle shrugged one shoulder. “Dr. Titus says it’s okay so long as he isn’t her shrink. Which he isn’t. She goes to Dr. Lachlan.”
    Jason glanced at Stark. “Dr. Titus says the divorce is Mom and Dad’s problem, not ours, but that’s stupid. How can it be just their problem? It’s like me and Jason don’t exist or something. But everything’s changed for us, too, so it’s not just Mom and Dad’s problem.”
    Stark could not argue with the logic of that statement. He ate another spoonful of cereal.
    “Dr. Titus says that divorce can be a positive move for the whole family,” Kyle said. He sounded as if he had memorized the words. “He says it provides opportunities for all members of the family to grow and become more independent.”
    Jason scowled. “He says it’s better for two people who fight all the time to split up. He says that way there isn’t so much stress in the household.”
    “I don’t see why Mom and Dad have to fight all the time in the first place,” Kyle muttered. “If they just stopped fighting, we wouldn’t have any more problems.”
    Stark chewed cereal. “A lot of kids have parents who get divorced.”
    “That’s what Dad told us,” Kyle said. “He says it’s perfectly normal.”
    “Dr. Titus told me that over half the kids in my class have parents who have split up,” Jason said. He studied his uneaten cereal. “I already knew that. I just didn’t think Mom and Dad would do it, too.”
    “Yeah, well they did,” Kyle said in a surprisingly harsh tone. “Dr. Titus said you’ve got to accept it. He says you’re in denial or something.”
    “Scuse me.” Jason jumped to his feet. “Gotta go to the bathroom.”
    Stark saw the gleam of moisture in Jason’s eyes as the boy