Week 21: Double trouble

"What did you just say?" Nick asked, staring at Leanne in disbelief.

"I said I'm pregnant. And you know as well as me this baby might be yours."

"You've got to be joking me."

Nick and Leanne turned in horror to discover David standing in the shadows, his hand still on the open kitchen door through which he'd just passed.

"Shut that door!" Nick hissed at his brother. "What if Carla hears?"

"No chance," David said. "She's long gone."

"She left? Without saying goodbye."

"Yes, she– Forget about her for a minute. Did I hear right? You two have been fooling around again?"

"It's a bit more than fooling around," Leanne pointed out, her arms crossed, immediately on the defensive.

"I'm not talking to you."

"You're the one who barged in on our conversation!" Leanne shot back.

"Go on, then," David challenged her. "Tell us, what have you got to say for yourself?"

"I'm not doing this in front of you."

"Too bad," David shrugged. "Cause I'm going nowhere."

"Nick!" Leanne turned to Nick, pleading with him.

"When did you find out?" Nick asked, ignoring David's presence entirely.

"Umm…" Leanne looked askance at David before answering Nick's question. "Yesterday."

"Does Peter know?"

"No," Leanne shook her head. "I wanted you to be the first to know."

"Why's that then?" David interjected. "Seems suss to me."

"Shut it, David!" Nick snapped, before turning back to Leanne. "Well?"

"I wanted to give you the chance to… I dunno. Tell me how you feel about it."

"I don't know how to feel."

"Nick, don't you see," she pleaded with him. "This is our chance."

"For what?"

"To be a family."

"He's got a family," David said. "With Carla."

"Carla doesn't want you," Leanne said, ignoring David. "She never did, not really. Tonight should've proved that to you."

"So, what?" David shrugged. "Are you saying you do? Are you gonna leave Peter for him?"

"Well?" Nick asked. "Is that what you're saying?"

"I…" Leanne stammered.

"She's hedging her bets," David pointed out to Nick. "Playing you and Peter off against each other."

"Can you please leave us alone," Leanne hissed at David.

"Nope," David flat out refused. "I think it's time you left."

"You can't tell me what to do."

"I can when you're messing with my brother's head. You're married, remember. And he's about to become a dad."

"Yeah, well I'm carrying–"

"Come back when you've got proof it's his. Go on, get!"

Leanne looked to Nick, but he averted his eyes, unable to meet her gaze.

"Fine," she capitulated. "But you and me, Nick, we're gonna talk about this sooner or later."

Peter and Carla stood side-by-side, each with their backs leaning against the front wall of the bistro, each silent, wrapped up in their own thoughts.

"So, what are you gonna do?" Peter was the first to break the silence.

"Honestly?" Carla mused. "I have no idea."

"Listen," Peter said. "Why don't you go find Nick, talk to him?"

Carla stood silently, staring out at nothing in particular, as she considered Peter's suggestion.

"No," she shook her head slowly, having made up her mind. "I'm going home. I can't deal with him tonight."

"Nick?"

"Who else?" Carla snapped. "Sorry, yes, I meant Nick."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Peter, I've been proposed to, it's not like I've gone ten rounds, is it?"

"Fair enough," he laughed. "But, if you need someone to talk to…"

"Yes, I know."

"Call me any time."

"Thank you," Carla whispered, expressing her gratitude by leaning in and giving him a friendly peck on the cheek, a peck that quickly turned into a hug as Peter's arms instinctively wrapped around her and held her close. "Bye," Carla stammered with the consciousness that Peter's embrace was causing the colour to rise in her cheeks, and quickly turned away from him.

"Bye."

Peter watched her walk into the shadowy night, her arms crossed tightly across her body as she shivered slightly in the cool air.

With a sigh, he opened the bistro door, bracing himself for the ear bashing he knew was coming from Leanne, a just punishment for abandoning her alone in order to comfort her nemesis.

"Kylie!" Peter called out to Kylie as she passed his and Leanne's table that he had returned to only to find it empty, his wife gone. "You haven't seen Leanne, have you?"

"I was wondering the same about David," she said. "Hey, you don't think they're off somewhere together, you know…"

"Ha!" he laughed as Kylie raised her eyebrows suggestively. "As if Lea would ever go for a scrawny little ferret like your David."

"Oi, that's my husband you're talking about."

"Sorry," Peter smirked. "No offence intended."

"David's probably with Nick anyway," Kylie said. "You know, after that whole proposal disaster. Poor guy must be humiliated."

"Yeah, poor Nick."

"Carla didn't say anything to you about it, did she? Why she turned him down?"

"Me?" Peter shrugged, feigning innocence. "Why would she talk to me?"

"You shouldn't have spoken to Leanne like that," Nick reprimanded David.

"Why not? That woman's a ticking time bomb and you need to get her under control."

"She's not about to blow apart her whole life on a hunch."

"Are you sure about that? Because it looked to me like she was giving you first refusal."

"So what if she was?" Nick shrugged. "Maybe I want to take it."

"You idiot."

"Hey, there's no need for that," Nick hissed at his brother. "What's wrong with me weighing up my options anyway?"

"Because you have a son on the way," David pointed out. "Why would you want to destroy his life before its even begun?"

"Destroy who's life?" Kylie asked, coming out of the shadows with Peter following close behind.

"No one's," Nick muttered. "It was nothing."

"It didn't sound like nothing," Kylie countered.

"He's wallowing is all," David hastened to provide an explanation, nodding at his brother. "Because Carla turned him down."

"She didn't say something to you, did she?" Nick asked, directing his question at Peter.

"Me?" Peter baulked at answering. "Hey, I'm just here looking for me wife. You haven't seen her, have you?"

"What did she say to you?" Nick pressed on with his interrogation. "I know Carla, if she were gonna confide in anyone, it would be you."

"Oh, no," Peter shook his head. "No, I'm not getting involved. You wanna know what she's thinking, you speak to her yourself."

"I've got a right to know."

"And I've got a right not to break her confidence."

"Tell me what she said," Nick growled, taking a step towards Peter.

"Mate," Peter held his hands up. "You need to calm down."

"Do I?" Nick asked, giving Peter a little shove. "Do I really?"

"Yeah," Peter retorted, stepping forward and shoving Nick in return. "You do."

"What did she say?" Nick demanded, again shoving Peter so that he staggered backwards.

"Get stuffed!" Peter shoved him back, a little more forcefully this time.

"You're loving this, aren't you?" Nick sneered. "Holding something over me. What is it, hmm? Your little revenge for last year?"

"Revenge?" Peter couldn't help but laugh. "The knowledge that Carla's only with you because of the baby is revenge enough for me."

"You…" Nick snarled, marking each word with a fresh shove. "Bitter. Little. Man."

Nick rushed at Peter and, clenching his arm around his neck, gripped him in a headlock, his face contorted with the hate he felt for this man, his biggest rival.

"Get! Off! Me!" Peter grunted, repeatedly smashing his fists into Nick's torso as he struggled to free himself.

"Oi!" David waded into the fight, trying to separate the two men. "Stop it! Enough!"

As Nick loosened his grip on Peter, David seized the opportunity and stepped between the two men, physically separating them.

"Peter, I think you better leave."

"Don't worry, I'm gone," Peter sneered. "I'm going home to my wife."

"Yeah, go on!" Nick called after him. "Run away!"

"Nick!" David chastised his brother. "Leave it!"

"You shoulda let me have him," Nick rebuked David the moment Peter was gone.

"I thought you were meant to be the smart one?" David joked. "Not the one talking with ya fists."

"That man winds me up is all."

"No kidding."

"David," Kylie interjected. "Are you ready to go home?"

"Ah," David looked from his wife to his brother. "No, I'm gonna stay here for a bit. You go on, I'll be home soon."

"Don't be long," Kylie gave her husband a quick peck on the lips before she left the brothers on their own.

"What are you still doing here?" Nick challenged his brother, glancing across at David for just a moment before dropping his head again, dejected, defeated.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm alright."

"And that you don't go doing something stupid," David added. "Like making some daft declaration to Leanne in front of Peter."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"You don't even know if Leanne's baby is yours. Forget about her. You've got something good with Carla. Don't mess it up."

"It's already messed up, David. She doesn't want to marry me."

"Hey," Peter greeted Leanne as he trudged wearily into the flat, dropping his keys onto the kitchen counter and plonking himself down on the sofa next to his wife.

"What happened to you?" Leanne quizzed Peter, spotting the fresh cuts on his face.

"What?"

"Your face," Leanne said, reaching out and gently wiping away the specks of blood.

"That?" Peter stonewalled. "That's nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Hmm…" Leanne wasn't convinced, but let him off the hook for now. "So, what do ya reckon, do you think Nick and Carla are gonna break up?"

"How would I know?" Peter snapped.

"Alright! Sheesh! I just wanted to know your opinion."

"Okay, well, I don't see why they would."

"Umm… she did just turn down his proposal of marriage."

"Trust me, Carla's not giving up on that relationship."

"You seem very sure about what Carla's thinking? Did you talk to her tonight?"

"Look…" Peter began.

"Peter."

"Don't get mad."

"I'm not."

"Oh…" Peter was surprised.

"So, you think she might change her mind about getting engaged?"

"Like I said, I don't think she's ready to give up on a future with Nick. Any more than that I don't know."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"Brilliant idea. Right, I'm off to bed. You coming?"

"No, I might stay up, read for a while."

"Okay," Peter said, kissing her softly on the cheek. "Night then."

"Night."

Carla switched on the light and stepped into the nursery. A casual observer would have been forgiven for thinking the room was merely a junk room, but to Carla it had become the foundation on which she was building all of her dreams.

She hadn't bought any of the big items yet, the cot or the change table but, along the way, she had been collecting little things, like the cute matching knitted sweater and beanie, or the patchwork quilt she'd bought one day while wandering through the markets.

She now picked up these items, one by one, smiling as she thought about her son wearing them, or playing with them, being kept warm by them. Naturally, her thoughts then turned to her son's father, of her overwhelming need to have him live with them, be a family with them.

Across town, Leanne stood at her front window, staring out onto the darkened street below, her eyes wandering in the direction she knew the bistro lay. She thought about Nick, about how he would be feeling after hearing her news. She smiled as she placed her hand protectively on her tummy, imagining the new life growing within.

And then she thought of the father of her little miracle. Was it the man who slept close by? The man who had stood by her even after she'd betrayed him? Or was it the man she'd betrayed him with? Again. The man she'd loved her whole life since she was little more than a girl.

Nick sat alone at one of the bistro's booths in the dark and empty dining room, a bottle of whisky in front of him, a glass of it in his hand. Lifting the glass to his lips, he threw back his head and drained it in one great gulp. Grimacing as the fiery amber liquid coursed down his throat, he slammed the glass onto the table and poured himself another shot.

Beep beep

Nick reached for his phone and, pulling it across the tabletop towards him, read the incoming text message.

Carla: Can we talk?

Nick knocked back another shot of whisky before replying to Carla, when–

Beep beep

Another text message.

Leanne: I need to talk to you now

Carla felt a complete fool given the length of time she had been seated on her sofa, her phone in her hand, waiting, willing for it to ring. But eventually she had to admit defeat; Nick was obviously still too hurt or too angry to speak to her that night.

With a sigh, she turned off the living room lights and padded softly into her bedroom, vowing to make it up to him the next day.

Leanne snatched up her phone the moment Nick's name flashed across the screen.

"Hello," she whispered breathlessly into the phone, hurrying into the bathroom and shutting the door, fearful of being overheard. "I knew you wouldn't let me down."