He feels a little twinge of pride there, as she smiles, though it's stolen pride because he didn't have anything to do with how good the spanakopita is. Maybe it's cos he's proud of Mona, cos she's of the hotel and so's he, so he gets to piggy back a little on her hard work. The feeling only lasts a second, though. He's not the genius here. That smile? All for Mona.
Merlin thinks he's smart, Kaden reminds himself, but that's followed with a fuck fuck fuck what'm I gonna do? and he's no closer to an answer.
So the woman gets more of his attention and he looks her over again. He has a whole line up of tips he'd tell other teenage guests, some of them genuine creepy truths about the hotel and others pure bullshit designed to freak them out for fun. If she was younger he might say yeah, I can tell ya where to meet the world's biggest dog but she's like, forty? He doubts forty year old women want to meet enormous dogs.
"That corner?" he says, pointing toward the northernmost corner of the restaurant, near the entrance to the outside world. "Can't get wifi in that corner, never. Best signal is right here," he circles his fingers round the surrounding tables. "Password's Wayside this week."