The room was silent for a moment. Ken and Deirdre both took a huge sigh of relief. Tracy rolled her eyes
"Welcome back bro" She said and then turned to her mother and father
"Well he looks fine to me"
Peter smiled as he made his way into the back room dressed in a black jacket and jeans.
"Hey" he said cheerily, He was carrying a few different shopping bags but he soon realised that his sister, stepmother and father were all watching him carefully
"What?"
"Peter, where have you been?" Ken asked him
"I figured I needed some new haven't been worn in prison clothes" he said irritated that he was still being given the third degree about everything he did
"Why what's wrong?" He asked, His family were all just sat there exchanging awkward looks between each other. Ken swallowed
"Look Peter" As he started Carla has come back in from being outside, she was looking down at the ground as she walked in and she didn't realise Peter was even there until he said
"Carla?" her gaze shot upwards at the sound of his voice, She exhaled with relief when she took a proper look at him.
"What are you…?" He stopped when he saw the look on her face it was as if him standing there had lifted a massive weight off of her shoulders, it was then he finally caught on to what was going on
"Tell me you weren't all sitting here thinking that I was out drinking" he said putting his bags down
"What were we supposed to think when we come home and you're gone along with a bottle of whisky" Ken said
"I'm stone cold sober, Can't you tell?" Peter asked both disappointed and infuriated that this was actually happening.
"Where's the bottle of whisky off the bar gone Peter?" Ken asked bluntly, Peter shook his head at his Dad and bent down, He went into one of the bags he had been carrying and pulled out an unopened bottle of whisky
"I was trying to be helpful, so I started tidying up and I knocked your precious bottle off the bar. I thought I should replace it before anyone got the wrong idea" he said watching his father
"The crazy thing is that at one point I actually thought you guys might be able to trust me" He walked over put the bottle of Jack Daniels back on to the bar and forced out a laugh
"I guess not eh" Peter said taking off his coat, He was now stood next to Carla by the kitchen door, She sighed at the fact that she had been so worried for nothing. There was a moment of silence in the back room before Peter spoke up again
"What do you still not believe me? Eh Why don't you call the police and get me breathalysed, just so you can be one hundred per cent sure" Deirdre shook her head
"Peter we're sorry" she said looking rather ashamed
"But when you didn't answer your phone we got so worried"
"Yeah well I went and got a new contract and they said it might take a few hours for my number to start working again" He explained to everyone although he really didn't feel like he should have to
"But just in case you don't believe me how about you call up Jeremy Kyle and get a lie detector test going, just to make sure I'm telling the truth about all this"
"Peter this is no time for your childish jokes" Ken snapped
"Oh I'm not joking Dad." Peter said shaking his head
"Let's get one thing straight. I may have done a lot of foolish things in my time but that last drink I had almost killed me, Now I did not get out of Prison just to go and drink my self into an early grave"
"We get that?" Ken said, Peter breathed out through his nose
"See I don't think you do Dad? I think you were all sitting here under the impression that I was somewhere out there drinking the rest of my life away" He then looked at Carla her eyes still had dark circles underneath them she swallowed as he stared at her
"Is that why you're here Carla" He asked his voice almost hoarse she shrugged at him
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay" She said her voice cracking, Tracy rolled her eyes
"Oh please you thought he was drinking just like the rest of us did, at least be honest about it" she said
"What would you know Tracy?" Carla replied not even bothering to look at her, keeping her eyes fixated on Peter
"And if he were out drinking, it would have been your fault anyway, I mean turning up here drunk last night like that was practically teasing him"
"D'ya know what I've just about had my fill of you Tracy!" She said furiously clenching her fists, Tracy stood up
"Oh have you now" she said with a wide grin on her face, taking great pleasure in winding Carla up.
"Yeah I ave" Carla said getting up off of her chair, Peter knew better than to stand by and let anything else happen, his arm immediately went around Carla's waist, holding her back just as she was about to lunge forward
"Let go of me Peter. Now!" she shouted Peter held her still as she did her very best to try and wriggle free
"You need to calm down" he said to Carla who found his tone highly annoying, it was like he was talking to his child not his wife. She tried some more to make him let go of her but he still had hold of her tightly
Ken stood up and stood in front of his daughter, he glared at her and then he turned back to look at Carla
"Carla I'm sorry about all of this" he began but Tracy spoke over him
"Don't apologise Dad. We've nothing to be"
"Be quiet Tracy!" Ken shouted over her this time Tracy recoiled back slightly and sat down on her chair muttering something under her breath.
Peter removed his arm from around Carla's middle and She picked up her leather jacket and shoved it on
"She's right, you don't have to apologise, I should have kept my self out of this whole ridiculous situation in the first place" she said attempting to leave, Peter stood in front of her
"Carla" she pushed past him and walked out of the back room
"Did you think I was drinking?" he asked after her, following her into the hallway She stopped and looked at Peter, shaking her head
"Peter just…"
"Be honest with me" he said, She sighed and bit her lip. She knew what she was about to say would hurt him
"Yes… there were a tiny part of me that did think you were out there in a bar or something" Carla admitted Peter nodded, so obviously wounded that she had so easily come to that conclusion about him
"That's all I needed to know, you can go now" he said bitterly moving aside Carla welled up and grabbed his arm
"Peter… Don't be like that. I've been going out of me mind, I haven't been able to think about anything else but you." She said
"I were so worried when I heard what happened with Steph last night and I couldn't help but think that it might have made you tempted to have a drink." Carla let go of him and wiped away the tear that had run down her cheek
"I'm sorry I were asleep earlier but I've been trying to call you for ages, Ask Michelle if you don't believe me. She said you'd be coming back sober and she were right. I should have just listened to her"
"So I see you've been involving Michelle in all this ridiculousness as well then" he said hating that he was the talk of the town again, Carla stared back at him
"Well why not? She's my friend"
"It's bad enough that I come home to a Spanish inquisition and now I hear the whole street probably thinks I'm facedown in an alley somewhere"
"The whole street? Don't be an idiot Peter, Michelle is the only person who knows about this" Peter could see she was beginning to get angry but he didn't care, he was angry too, angry that after all these months away from Carla they were already back to arguing over his drinking.
"I'm a grown man, I can go where I want and do what I want and I really don't see what she has to do with it" Carla took a deep breath because she could feel her temper rising again
"You know what Peter, Why don't you stop being so damn selfish and think about me for once" she didn't care who was listening as Ken and Deirdre were still sat in their back room with Tracy.
"I've lost Haley, my brother, my marriage and my Baby, All in less then a flippin year!" She cried
"Michelle is the only person I've got in this whole wide world to talk to and you have the cheek the stand there and ask me what she has to do with all this"
Peter was now stood completely still. He felt a wave guilt run through his body as Carla wiped another tear that fell from her left eye. He hadn't meant to be so hostile towards her during all this especially after the few good times they had had over the weekend.
"How can you be so selfish?" She asked, Peter tried to move closer to her but she held her hand up as if to warn him off
"Don't"
"I'm Sorry Carla I shouldn't have said that" he began, Carla sniffed shaking her head
"You just have no idea what it's like to have no one trust you. I mean I can't even go down the shops" Peter said quietly, Carla raised her hands up to her head out of frustration because it was still all about him
"God Peter!" She cried "When are you going to realise that there is no one to blame for that but your self. You wrecked Tina's life, you wrecked our marriage and you wrecked me" She pushed him hard with both of her hands. He rocked backwards and he stayed there silent because he knew she was right, he sniffed as she spoke again
"If you can't accept the fact that the people who love you are going be worried about you…" He looked back at her, She gulped her eyes still brimming with tears
"Maybe you should just… go, Like you said you would" she said putting her hands in her pockets as if she had said something casual to him rather then practically telling him that he should leave the street. He nodded not wanting to look at her properly because she'd see how heartbroken he was
"Maybe I should then" he said, his stomach beginning to feel tight because he thought that she had wanted him to stay and now everything was going completely wrong.
"I'll just go and We can just pretend this weekend never happened then" he added really trying to act as if he didn't care even though he felt a lump in the back of his throat. Carla stared at him for a moment trying to look into his eyes but he still refused to look at her and he just stared down at the wall next to him. She waited a few more moments before saying
"Fine" and with that she opened the door and left without even looking behind her.