Crosshairs

Round 30: July 2031 (Winter)

last update/next update

Augustin and Hanna Novak are both 76, Naomi is 56 and Owen is 54.
(Amar is 30, Adrienne is 24 and Malcolm is 21)

Narrated by Owen Novak

It's been over six months since Naomi and I spotted Adrienne with Amar. We've been waiting to meet this guy ever since.

Every time we've brought it up though, Adrienne was very resistant to the idea. She kept saying she didn't understand why we had to meet him but I want to know who this guy is.

My insistence has got me in trouble with Naomi a few times. She thinks I'm being too pushy.

I just worry about Adrienne, that's all. We never met Nick when she was dating him, she hardly even knew Sylvia's father and hasn't really admitted to dating anyone else until now, although I'm sure there must have been at least a guy or two since then.

Naomi figures that Adrienne is 24 now and has done pretty well for herself since getting pregnant and that we should just trust her judgement. She'll introduce us when she's ready.

So I agreed to let up but I wasn't happy about it. I hate being kept in the dark.

I thought we'd never get to meet him until Adrienne suddenly brought it up at dinner one night.

She said she'd talked about it with Amar and he was willing to come over and meet us.

As if any of us were going to say no to that. Adrienne knows how much we want to meet him. So of course, Naomi and I said yes and that she could bring him over any time. I could hardly believe Adrienne had even agreed to this. She was so against it a few months ago.

Malcolm has invited himself along to meet Amar as well. He says he wants to check out Adrienne's new boyfriend but he's probably after more of Hanna's cooking.

He always eats like he hasn't eaten for weeks when he comes home.

Adrienne was very unimpressed at Malcolm "butting in" and actually wanted me to tell him he wasn't invited.


Unfortunately for her, Malcolm is always welcome back here at home, just as she is.

I can't believe those two sometimes. They're 21 and 24 and I still have to step in and adjudicate their arguments like they're in kindergarten. I dread imagining them next year. Adrienne has agreed to let Malcolm move in with her and Matilda and I just don't know how that's going to work. They can get along when they want to but their relationship has always been a bit adversarial.

I've told Malcolm to try not to get into Adrienne's face too much. And not to hit on Matilda.

Malcolm says he hasn't been interested in Matilda since he was 12. I was only half-serious; that was a long time ago now.


Malcolm is still quite hung up on Hope anyway. He thought the break-up came out of nowhere, though it sounds like they had a pretty big fight before it happened.

Amar and Adrienne came over at around 6pm that Saturday - right on time. So that was one point in his favour.

I pegged him for a bit of a charmer immediately though. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

It seemed to work on Naomi though.

I didn't want Amar to get too comfortable, so I decided I'd watch him closely.

I used dinner as an opportunity to really get to know Amar. I tried not to sound too much like I was interrogating him, because I could tell Adrienne was ready to glare at me if I did.

I hated to admit it but I was actually impressed. He's only 30 but he's owned his own gallery/studio in Exeter for the past few years.

I was ready to dislike the guy but I couldn't find much to criticise. He and Adrienne do seem to really like each other.

I actually found myself hoping that he and Adrienne make something of this. I'd love to see her settle down one day, whether that involves marriage or not, and Amar seems to be a pretty decent guy.

Once everyone had left, I asked Naomi what she thought of him. I wasn't really expecting her to confess that they'd met before.

Apparently, she'd done a little detective work. She came across a place called Hamilton Photography, put two and two together and thought she'd get a sneak peek at our daughter's new boyfriend. No wonder she wasn't dying of curiosity like I was!

I guess it doesn't matter much now, seeing we've both met him. Meeting Amar did help to put my mind at ease a little. I think I like Amar and I just hope I'm not wrong about him.

Notes:

• Title is from Crosshairs by Scott Lucas and the Married Men.
• Malcolm has the want to be friends with Hope. I'll be interested to see what Hope wants when I play her next.
• I think I only mentioned this in Comments, so some of you might have missed it but Malcolm will be moving in with Adrienne and Matilda when he graduates. Adrienne and Malcolm are actually good friends but it's about 50/50 as to whether their conversations will go well or not.
• Everyone seemed to really like Amar, though I could imagine that Owen would still be wary. Especially because the first thing Amar did when he walked in was compliment Naomi. Amar is probably lucky he's not dating one of Jace's daughters. Jace wouldn't let his guard down for a second around a guy like Amar. ;)