Like Mother, Like Son, Like Hook {Hook&Esme}
The sun was beating down through the summer leaves as the taxi pulled up in front of Zephyr's day care. Esme paid for the fare and slid out of the car after James. She'd asked him along to pick up her son, Zephyr, from day care that afternoon as a way of trying to make him feel slightly cheerier. And secretly, as a way to ignore the fact that her partner was married. Not engaged--married--and hadn't bothered to tell Esme. Admittedly, they hadn't spoken in a while because everything had become so hectic in their own personal lives but still. That wasn't something that just slipped your mind.
The roof of the day car was black, an odd choice, so Esme knew ahead of time that Zephyr would been complaining about the heat so she walked to the vending machine, slotted in a five dollar bill and waited for her change and her bottle of water. With a rattle and clank, she extracted the two things from the machine and walked back over to James. "We're a little early, not by much though." She said as she checked the time on her phone to be 2:55pm and the place let the kids free at 3pm. Esme glanced down at the packet of smokes in his hands, a smile dancing over her lips. "Don't let him put those in his mouth," She pointed at the cigarettes. "He's at the 'let-me-touch-fucking-everything' stage." Esme didn't care if James smoked around Zephyr because they did live in New York and a little bit of smoke wasn't going to kill the kid. Or maybe it would--Esme was too inexperienced of a mother to know or care.
"He'll be a little wary of you at first, kind of..." Esme thought of the word to describe her son's actions. "Kind of like he's sizing you up. Trying to see if you're a threat or if you're going to give him lollies or punch me in the face or something. He has this sixth sense. You'll see." Esme waited patiently as the doors opened and little kids scurried out to meet their various parents who were gathered in little groups or pairs like her and Hook. Zephyr bounded out, his too-big-and-too-empty back pack hitting against his back. Esme grinned from ear to ear as she bent down and wrapped him in a hug. "Hey, Zeph, how're you doing?" His mop of sandy blonde hair flopped as he nodded eagerly and Esme took his back pack from him and wrapped it over her own shoulder, "I jumped off the highest part of the jungle gym!" He exclaimed before looking over Esme's shoulder at James, his face suddenly contorting into exactly what Esme had warned: judgement. He looked James from head to toe, a mature look in his eyes and a childish blush on his cheeks. "Who're you?" He asked bluntly.