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"Liam come on, what's up? I can tell that something's wrong" Michelle questioned Liam.
"Chelle, I'm fine, honestly" Liam tried to reassure Michelle, as soon as she walked in the door babbling on about work knew he was upset.
"Liam, I know that you're not, not come on, spill, what's happened?" Liam still didn't reply so she decided to press further. "Is it...Carla?" She could tell by his facial expression when she'd mentioned Carla's name that she must be right and it must be something that Carla had done. "Hey, Liam, what happened?"
"We...Slept together, last night"
"You what? You slept together? She's got a boyfriend Liam, a boyfriend who loves her very much, do you have any idea what you've-"
"LOOK, DON'T YOU THINK I'M AWARE OF HOW STUPID I'VE BEEN MICHELLE? BUT I CAN'T HELP IT IF I LOVE HER CAN I?"
"I know Liam, so if you slept together...then why are you upset?"
"Because...She said it was a mistake, she made it perfectly clear that she regretted sleeping with me and that she had chosen Peter"
"Well, did she say that she'd chosen Peter?"
"No, not exactly, but she didn't have to"
"Look Liam, Carla was devastated when you...'died' she loved you - still loves you - she's just finding it hard"
"Yeah, well I'm finding it hard to, to come back to the home I used to know, to find I've got a son with the woman I cheated on, and the woman I cheated on her with, who I'm madly in love with, has a new life and a new family"
Peter was slicing onions, trying not to rub his very teary eyes with the sleeve of his top. He wanted to make this evening special, it was only dinner but he loved Carla dearly and knew that she was struggling to make a choice between him and Liam, he at least wanted to know that he'd done the best he could. He was just about to fry the onions when he heard the buzzer go off. He didn't know who it could be, Simon was spending the night with Leanne and he assumed Carla would still be at work, she had a key anyway.
"Who is it?" He called down the phone to the person waiting outside.
"It's me, can I come up?" Ken asked his son, they got on a lot better these days since everything had settled down.
"Yeah sure" Peter pressed the button and put the phone down, he went and put the tea towel he'd been drying his hand on down on the table and opened the door.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"I just wanted to see if you were alright, what with everything going on with Carla...and Liam"
"Oh, well, I'm fine" he continued preparing dinner as he tried to convince his dad he was ok. "She'll be home any minute, we're having a meal together, I'm cooking"
"Oh, it seems like you're going to an awful lot of effort"
"Well, it's just pasta, nothing impressive, you know me...and my cooking skills..." he could tell he wasn't being very convincing but he knew his dad would see through him anyway.
"Peter, I understand how hard this must be for you, you don't have to hide it"
"I'm not hiding anything"
"Peter, you're my son-"
"Oh yeah, when it suits I'm your son"
"Oh here we go, pulling out the whole 'I'm an awful dad and was never there for you' card"
"Well it's true!"
"WELL I'M HERE FOR YOU NOW SO TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG!"
"I think it's time for you to leave, dad." he grabbed Ken by the arm and lead him towards the door. "I think you've out-stayed your welcome"
"PETER LET GO OF ME, PETER!"
"WELL GET OUT THEN!"
"Look, I'm not trying to upset you, I'm not trying to force you into anything, I just want to know what's wrong"
"You want to know what's wrong? Isn't it obvious? No? Well, I'll tell you what's wrong, the love of my girlfriend's life has returned from the dead and she's being forced into making a choice between us and to be honest...I really don't think I stand a chance. So I'm just trying to enjoy the rest of the time I have with her, because I don't think it's gonna be very long"
"Oh Peter" Ken said, immediately forgiving his son for his earlier outburst.
At this point Carla opened the front door and walked inside, just as she was about to slam the front door shut she overheard voices upstairs.
"I'm just really scared of losing her" this sentence practically came out as a whisper, tears were rolling down his face now. He really was petrified of losing her, he hadn't been able to tell anyone, to let his feelings out.
"She means the world to me, she's my everything, but how can I compete with him? With Liam?"
"Well, there's a good chance she loves you more than him"
"Oh come on dad, don't try to pretend, I've spoken to her about Liam before, before we were together, I know how much he means to her, I could never mean that much to her..."
Carla was also crying now, as she stood at the bottom of the stairs listening to their conversation, Peter had no idea how very wrong her was, he had no idea how much he meant to her.