Here's the next part, a bit short but the next part should be up soon. Please review and let me know what you think, thanks!
The next morning Carla was sitting in Roy's Rolls with a cup of coffee. News of Peter and Leanne's split and Leanne's affair with Nick had spread and everyone seemed to know about it. Carla's attention was drawn to the door where Peter had just entered the cafe with Simon. Her eyes met his and he walked towards her table,
"Morning"
"Morning Peter, how are you?"
"Yeah I'm alright.. Considering.." Peter trailed off, looking at the floor.
"Are you on your own?" Peter asked, keen to change the topic if conversation away from how wife's infidelities.
"Yeah, I have a meeting in town in an hour so just grabbing a coffee before, join me if you like?"
"Is that alright?"
"Of course it is, sit down"
Peter took a seat directly opposite Carla and Simon sat down in the chair next to him.
"Dad can I have a milkshake?"
"Yeah of course you can mate, go and ask Roy, here you go" Peter said, handing him some money.
"How is he?" Carla asked, as soon as Simon was out of earshot.
"He's alright, he's still furious with Leanne, understandably, but he's better than yesterday"
"That's good, I'm sure he'll get over this Peter, kids are very resilient"
"Yeah, I guess, I've kept him off school today, I think he needs a few days to adjust to things, this has really upset him. He thought the world of Leanne you know? I can't believe that she's done this" Peter said, tears welling in his brown eyes.
"You really don't deserve this Peter, you're a good man, and Simon's a good kid." She reached her hand over the table and placed it on top of his reassuringly, "I know we're not close or anything but if you ever need to talk, you know where I am okay?"
"Thanks Carla, that really means a lot" he smiled gratefully at her, just as Simon came back to the table with a chocolate milkshake in his hand.
"So Simon, what are you and your dad going to do today then?" Carla asked, making conversation with him to take his mind off the recent traumas in his life.
"Dad said he'll take me to see a new film at the cinema then we're going for pizza"
"Wow that sounds great" Carla replied enthusiastically.
"It'll be great won't it?" Simon said to his dad excitedly, "Dad can Carla come with us?" Peter looked at Carla awkwardly, not sure how to answer Simon's question, not knowing whether Carla would want to join them, luckily Carla stepped in to answer, "d'you know what Simon, I'd love to come with you but I've got to go to work darling"
"Yeah, Carla's a very busy woman son, and I don't really think the new Spider-Man movie would appeal to her" Peter joked, "maybe another time though yeah?"
Simon nodded and continued to drink his milkshake.
"Well I better be off, I need to be in town in half an hour"
"Good luck with your meeting" Peter said, as she got up from the table,
"Thanks, you two have a good day, bye Simon"
"Bye Carla!"
Around half an hour later, Peter and Simon were on their way out of the cafe when they spotted Leanne across the street. She waked over towards them, keen to talk to Simon.
"Hiya Si!"
"Leave me alone" he said quietly, timidly standing behind his dad.
"Listen Leanne" Peter said quite sternly, "Simon's very upset, I think it's a good idea you stay away from us for a bit don't you" Peter walked away, taking Simon by the hand, "come on son".
Later on in town, Carla was sitting in a restaurant waiting for a potential new client for underworld.
"Hello Carla" a man said, approaching her table.
"Frank, lovely to meet you"
"And you, you look great" Frank said, looking her up and down before leaning across the table and kissing her cheek.
"Thanks, what would you like to drink?"
"I'll have a red wine please"
About an hour later and Carla and Frank were coming to the end of their meeting.
"So that's 20,000 units then at this price?" Carla asked, pointing to their agreed price on her spreadsheet.
"Well I reckon, to seal the deal, why don't you let me take you to dinner where I can sign on the dotted line?"
Carla started to feel slightly awkward in his presence, sensing that he wanted more than just an order, so she decided dinner wouldn't be a good idea, getting too involved with Frank could ruin her chances with this huge order.
"Frank, I am flattered but i need to be somewhere tonight, if we've agreed on the deal, then you can sign this and we can meet up another time to discuss delivery schedules"
"Okay then" Franks said, a hint of disappointment in his voice, "where do I sign?"
That night, Carla was sitting in the rovers will Michelle having a glass of wine.
"Can you believe that about Leanne?" Michelle asked, taking a drink of her wine
"Yeah I can actually, she's always been like that, you know, after.." Carla trailed off, not wanting to talk about Paul or upset Michelle
"Yeah I suppose your right. Peter seems devastated about it, I saw him this morning with Simon, looks like the weight of the world was on his shoulders"
"Yeah, and Simon's really upset bless him, I found him on his own on the red rec yesterday crying his eyes out, I had to take him home to Peter"
"Poor kid, he seemed really fond of Leanne"
"Yeah"
Carla and Michelle sat and chatted for hours before deciding to call it a night. "Right Chelle I best be off, see you tomorrow love" Carla said, hugging her best friend, "text me tomorrow"
"Will do babe, see ya!"
Carla made her way out of the Rovers and over to streetcars to get a taxi home. It was just gone nine o'clock and the streets were empty apart from Peter standing at the door of his flat smoking a cigarette.
"Hello again" Carla said, crossing the street towards Peter's flat.
"Oh hi Carla, how was your meeting?"
"It went really well thanks" Carla said pushing her doubts about Frank to the back of her mind, "how was your day with Simon"
"It was great spending some time with him, must have tired him out, he's fast asleep upstairs, I think it cheered him up a bit though"
"That's good, and how about you? How are you doing?"
Peter remained silent for a minute before answering, "I'm getting there, it's night time that I find difficult, being on me own, plenty of time to think, at least there's distractions during the day" he said, before stubbing out a cigarette and lighting another.
"Listen Peter, tell me to mind my own but do you think it's wise to smoke like that?"
"Probably not" he said, throwing his cigarette to the floor, "but it's either that or a bottle of whiskey" Peter said, his eyes welling with tears
"Oh Peter, come here" Carla said, hugging the poor man hoping to ease his pain slightly.
"Why don't I keep you company for a bit?"
"Do you mind? Sorry it's just I don't like being on my own, I get so tempted by drink, Leanne was always there to stop me before but now-" he stopped mid sentence to stop himself from crying.
"Hey, it's okay, come on" Carla said, placing a comforting hand on his back and guiding him upstairs into his flat.
Please review, thanks :)
Also, would like to say a huge thank you to the people have reviewed chapter 1, hope you enjoyed chapter 2!