Aaron realized how fortunate he was that he'd had the childhood his dad had given him. It meant that even though he could feel what somebody was feeling three walls away, only dad was around, and he got used to it. Ted made sure he saw other people, but only occasionally, sort of like being a pinch hitter in the minor leagues every other season. Being here, in a place so densely populated, was something Aaron never would have been able to handle without that practice.
The first thing that Aaron noticed about Boyd was that she was in bed clothes, and even though it wasn't a Victoria's Secret catalog, it wasn't a nun's habit, either. The second thing was that she was very pretty, in a girlish, classical way, and he hadn't ever seen anybody (outside of magazines, anyway) that was quite that pretty before. The third thing, obviously, was that she was really sad. And scared. And lonely.
And sad.
He tried to keep all of this off of his face, of course, but he wasn't very good at that kind of thing. "Good morning." He focused on her face. Pretty. He smiled, a little uncertain, but there.