"I'm looking at photos of me and your father. Would you like to see them?" Avery asked.

Hayden immediately turned to look out the window and said, "I don't."

"I won't look at them either then." Avery put her phone down, then turned to her son and said, "Thank you for today, Hayden. I suggested taking family portraits because we haven't taken one since your grandmother passed away. There's also another reason."

Hayden withdrew his gaze from the window.

He was willing to listen to his mother. No matter what Avery said, he could take her seriously.

"Last night, your father told me that he's been depending on medication to fall asleep ever since Shea passed away. He didn't bring his pills, so I went out to get some for him last night. He isn't perfect, but neither am I. I've thought about it seriously, and I want to spend the rest of my life with him."

Avery was informing Hayden that she would be living with Elliot in the future.

This was something that Hayden had already expected.