Aiden

When the hotel clerk smiles at them but cannot meet either of their gazes, Caleb realizes that they must look more like a couple with an age discrepancy than a mother and her son. Sometimes it feels as if those around him are just like Tarima; as if they can read his mind and slurp his thoughts up like spaghetti noodles, swallowing down the all-red desire he has for his mother. Is it really that--

"Sorry," Anisha says, her voice flat and suddenly-dead---the tone she uses to convey potential danger. "That's not what we booked."