"Sit down, would you like a coffee?" Peter asked as they entered the flat

"Coffee would be lovely, thanks" Carla said, taking a seat on the sofa.

"How do you take it?" Peter asked, putting the kettle on,

"Black no sugar please"

"Sweet enough eh?"

"Oh I doubt that, anything but sweet, have you heard the nicknames I have round here?" Carla laughed "Cruella, Morticia, even Mount Everest once"

"Mount Everest?!" Peter laughed

"Yeah, wouldn't want to go there apparently"

"Well I will admit to you Carla, I did think you were quite scary, you know, the kind of person nobody messes with, which is a good thing you know, but these last few days I've realised you're nothing like Cruella" Peter chuckled,

"Well thanks" Carla giggled, "anyway, enough about me, how are you coping"

"It's just so hard to adjust to being on my own and looking after Si by myself"

"Yeah, it'll take a bit of getting used to, but you know there's lots of people round here that can help you, Ken and Dierdre, Tracy, admittedly she wouldn't be my first choice, but anyway, and I'll always be here for you too if you need me"

"Thank you, that really means a lot Carla"

"I know it's hard, but you will get over this Peter, I know it hurts right now but things will get better"

"I suppose I should have known something like this would happen with Leanne's track record after.. You know... Sorry..." Peter trailed off, not wanting to bring up the subject of Paul and Leanne.

"It's okay Peter, that was a long time ago"

"Yeah, I didn't want to upset you or anything, it must still hurt"

"Yeah, I loved Paul, I also hated him for what he and Leanne did and I told him that, I told him I hated him for what he did, and then he went and locked Leanne in the boot of his car and drove into a lorry, he died thinking I hated him. And that's why I can't forgive Leanne. You probably think it's pathetic that we still don't talk but if it wasn't for her Paul might still be here." She said sadly, her voice cracking slightly with emotion as she spoke of her late husband.

"I don't think your pathetic, I completely understand why you don't talk to her, I'm so sorry Carla, you didn't deserve that" Peter watched as she remained silent for a few minutes, slightly shocked at the vulnerability she showed, he was so used to seeing her strutting down the cobbles in her 6 inch heels, a strong woman, and now, just talking about Paul, someone who meant so much to her, showed such a change in her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry" she said, "what we like eh? Sitting here getting all upset, let's talk about something else, cheer you up a bit?"

"Yeah, did your meeting go well today?"

"Yeah it was alright, managed to get a new client to sign on the dotted line, he was a bit weird though" she said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"How come?" Peter laughed

"Well he wanted to take me to dinner, I mean I was flattered but I'd only known the guy ten minutes, I got the feeling he was after more than just my knickers, if you know what I mean"

"Well you can't blame the bloke for trying" Peter laughed

"Hmm.. He wants to meet up again next week to discuss delivery schedules"

"Maybe he might turn up with a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates this time"

"Yeah and I'd tell him where to shove them" she laughed "good to see you smiling" she said, glad that she could cheer Peter up a bit.

"Yeah, I can't have been the best company these last few days, so sorry about that"

"It's understandable Peter"

"I don't understand how I couldn't have noticed what was going on? I mean, she said it had been going on for months. I should have known I'd never live up to her childhood sweetheart anyway, I was probably a lousy husband, who wants to come home to an alcoholic eh?"

"Peter you can't blame yourself for this, you're a good man, yes you have your problems but who doesn't? I know you're hearts broken right now but you will find someone who can fix it for you, there's plenty of women out there who would love to be with a man like you, you would make someone very happy Peter, and whoever that may be, she'll be a very lucky woman"

"I doubt that"

"Sto putting yourself down Peter, you're a good catch, I mean that."

Peter smiled gratefully at her, "thank you for bring there for me tonight, if it wasn't for you I reckon I'd be drowning my sorrows in vodka right now"

"I'm glad I could help you, pass me your phone over" Carla said, as Peter picked up his phone and passed it to her, "what are you doing?"

"Putting my number in it, you don't have to use it, but if you ever need me, feel tempted by the drink, need someone to cheer you up, or a shoulder to cry on, give me a call" Carla said, typing her number into his phone

"Thank you" Peter said as she passed his phone back to him.

"Right, well I better be off, I'm working tomorrow, will you be alright?"

"Yeah I'll be fine, I'm just going to get off to bed"

"Alright well I'll speak to you soon yeah? And thanks for the coffee"

"Thanks tonight Carla, I really appreciate it"

"No problem, and remember what I said, anytime you need anything, give me a call" Carla hugged Peter goodbye before leaving the flat.

After a short taxi ride home, Carla reached the door of her flat and put the key in the lock. Just as she was about to go inside someone called her name.

"Carla?" She turned round and was met with her neighbour, she recognised him, although the pair had never really spoken before, she couldn't even remember his name.

"Erm.. These were left for you earlier, the florist was delivering them when you were out and asked if I would keep them for you"

Carla looked at him then at the large bouquet of flowers he held in his hand, a look of confusion etched across her face.

"Oh.. Erm.. Thanks" she said, taking the flowers from him.

"No problem, see you around"

"Yeah, bye"

She got into her flat, kicked off her heels and placed the flowers down on the kitchen worktop. She looked around for a note but didn't seem to find one. Only a small tag with her name and address on it. She thought about the possibilities of who they could be from. They could have been from Peter but she had only seen him half an hour ago and he would have mentioned something. Unless they were from Frank, she thought, no, he didn't know her address. She placed the flowers in a vase of water and headed off into her bedroom to get ready for bed.

In an apartment on the other side of Manchester, Frank lay awake in bed, wondering whether Carla had recieved the flowers yet. The question of whether he should have left a note with them still played on his mind, but he didn't want to come across as too desparate so decided against a note. As soon as he had laid eyes upon Carla he had known she was his type of woman. Her beautiful appearance and fiesty personality had won him over straight away and he was desparate to make her his. He couldn't hide his disappointment earlier that day when she turned down his offer of taking her to dinner. Maybe it was just too quick. He could wait to see her again later in the week, maybe this time she might accept his offer.

Hope you enjoyed that part, please review and let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who has recieved so far :)