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Carla let go of Peters hand as though it were suddenly scalding and dropped her eyes sheepishly to the ground.

"Busted!" She heard Simon say, but he sounded more smug than annoyed. She felt her face flush with embarrassment as she kicked herself for not letting go of his hand before they entered the house. Peter had been jittery and anxious in the car and she'd been trying to calm him down. She'd grabbed his hand on instinct, she hadn't even thought about it.

"Your Dad was worried, Si." Carla said, trying to shift focus from their hand holding, still avoiding Leanne's eye.

"Anyway, I'd better get going," She said to Peter, desperate to escape, "Glad you're alright Simon." She smiled at the teenager, before making a swift exit.

Carla felt silly running away, but the last thing she needed right now was a lecture from Leanne, something she'd felt certain was due any minute. She could hear it now, Leanne complaining that once again Carla was distracting Peter from his responsibilities, she felt as though she'd climbed in a time machine and flown right back to 2012. Carla didn't really care what Leanne thought of her, but something Peter had said in the park was troubling her.

I just really want this to work. He had said, in response to leaving Simon alone, despite worrying what Tyler might do.

Carla knew Peter was really trying to win her round, bending over backwards to impress her. But if it was coming at the expense of what was best for Simon, and what was best for Peter himself, then she didn't want it. She didn't care if Leanne found out they were seeing each other, but she wouldn't be blamed for coming between Peter and his Son, not again. She needed to reassure Peter somehow that her heart was in this, that she wasn't going to bail at the first inconvenience.

She pulled out her phone and texted Michelle, asking her to meet her in The Rovers. She was sat in a booth with a bottle of red and two glasses by the time Michelle arrived.

"Hey." Michelle said, taking a seat opposite Carla in the booth, a look of concern on her face, "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, sorry for summoning you like this but I need to talk to you about something."

"Of course." Michelle replied as Carla poured a glass of red and pushed it towards her.

"It's about me and Peter." She said before taking a sip from her own glass.

There was a pause as Michelle leant back in her seat, "Ok." She finally said, an eyebrow raised.

Carla took another gulp of wine before continuing, "We've been seeing each other. Socially."

"You're back together?!" Michelle shrieked, Carla shushed her frantically, her eyes darting around the pub hoping no one had heard. Once she was confident there were no eavesdroppers, she continued.

"We're not back together exactly," She clarified in a hushed tone, "But we've been going on dates."

"How long has this been going on?" Michelle asked.

"A couple of weeks." Carla said.

"And you didn't tell me because…?"

"Well why do you think? Because I knew you'd kick off."

"Do I look like I'm kicking off?"

"No." Carla said, "but there's still time."

Michelle sighed, "Look Carla. You know how I feel about Peter. But I'm not exactly surprised."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, he bought into the factory out of the goodness of his heart, did he?"

"Well obviously not, but that doesn't mean I was going to take him back." Carla replied defensively.

Michelle gave her a pitying look that made Carla want to scream, "Carla, I've known you a long time, and I know you never truly let go of the idea of you and Peter, no matter what you said."

Carla looked down into her now almost empty wine glass, she really had tried to move on from Peter, but it had been significantly more difficult since they were back living on the same street and working in the same building. Out of sight, out of mind was a cliché, but in Carla's case, it had worked.

"We're just dating right now," She told Michelle, "I'm not jumping back into anything serious. I haven't forgotten what he did."

"And is he happy to take things slow?"

"He doesn't have a choice."

"Too right." Michelle replied, "He should be thanking his lucky stars you've even considered giving him another chance."

"Oh, he is." Carla said, "That's the problem really."

"What do you mean?"

"He's so eager to impress me that he's bending over backwards to organise these romantic dates, putting me before all his other obligations, and that's not what I want from him."

"What do you want from him?"

"I just want to know I can trust him again."

Michelle smiled sympathetically, "Well I never thought I'd say this, but you're never going to know unless you try."

This conversation had not gone how Carla had expected. She'd expected Michelle to give her and earful, yet her she was essentially encouraging her to give Peter another chance.

"But if you do take him back," Michelle continued, "That's the slate wiped clean, you can't use his infidelity against him in the future." She warned.

"I know that." Carla said quietly, "We've talked the Tina thing through, I feel ready to move on from it, but there's always going to be that niggle, no matter what I do."

"All relationships are a risk; you just have to decide whether or not the risk is worth it."

Carla put her head in her hands, "I just don't know." She whined.

"Well think of it this way. Do you think you could be happier with him, despite the risk, than without him?"

Carla pondered this for a moment, "If I take him back, it's his last chance." She said firmly.

"Of course." Michelle replied over her wine glass.

"One hundred percent." Carla said, before draining the last of hers.

She lay in bed that night, mulling over Michelle's words. Now that she'd told Michelle, thing's felt more real somehow. She'd built up Michelle's reaction to the news in her mind so much that she'd imagined Michelle falling out with her and refusing to make up unless she ended things with Peter. But Michelle wasn't like that. She was a good friend, and good friends allow you to make your own choices, but are always nearby, ready to pick up the pieces if they need to. Carla's thoughts drifted to Rob and how he might have reacted had he been the one sitting in front of her in the pub tonight. She didn't allow herself to think of Rob much, but unfortunately Rob and her relationship with Peter were indelibly connected through circumstances that had changed all their lives forever. Rob would try and talk her out of it, she knew that. He would call her weak and pathetic for giving in to Peter once again.

Rob had hated Peter from day one, for reasons that escaped Carla at the time. He was happy shacking up with convicted murdered Tracey Barlow, but Peter was a step too far? Rob would be in her ear constantly, telling her she could do better, that Peter was a loser. And even after they split-up he didn't stop, telling Carla it was obvious that Peter had never loved her after all. At the time she'd been just defeated enough to believe him, but in the years that followed she had chastised herself for being so easily lead, so malleable. After all, he'd had an ulterior motive all along, a dirty secret he needed to keep hidden. Carla loved Rob, but how was his manipulation of her any better than what Peter had done? Happy to send an innocent man to prison for the rest of his life, under the guise of 'brotherly love'. Peter was weak, certainly, but he wasn't a bad person. The collateral damage from his affair had been immense, but to blame Peter for everything that came after was unfair. No one forced Rob to go round to Tina's flat that night, no one forced him to pick up that pipe.

Carla wondered what it was she was truly afraid of when it came to her and Peter. Was it really other people's opinions? Something that had never concerned her in the past. Or was it the fact that admitting their relationship to other people meant truly admitting it to herself, and in turn opening up her heart again to the one person she wasn't sure she'd survive the heartbreak of losing a second time?

The next morning Peter entered the office with a takeaway coffee and a chocolate chip muffin.

"I brought you these." He announced, placing them on the desk in front of her.

She looked at him bemused, "What are these for?"

"They're a sort of apology."

"What for?" She asked, genuinely confused.

"Well, you know, for our date being cut short."

"Peter, do you honestly think I'd be annoyed at our date being cut short because your son had hurt himself?"

"Well, no…"

"I'm not a monster Peter." She laughed.

"I know that." He said sheepishly, taking a seat at his desk.

"How is Simon?" She asked.

"Oh, he's fine," He waved her off, "And don't worry, I managed to knock them off the scent."

"Hmm?"

"The handholding." He clarified.

"Peter…" Carla sighed.

"I just told them I was worried, and you were just being a friend." He smiled at her hopefully and she felt a pang of guilt.

"Peter, if you want to, you can tell them the truth."

"What?" He replied in shock.

"I told Michelle about us."

"You did, when?"

"Last night."

"Huh." Peter replied looking dumbfounded. "How did she take it?"

"Better than I expected, honestly. Said she wasn't surprised. I don't think we've been as discreet as I thought." She let out a small laugh.

"Does this mean you're thinking about making us official?" He asked hopefully.

Carla looked into his eyes, they were so full of hope and she didn't want to hurt him, but her telling Michelle hadn't changed the fact that she still wanted to take things slow.

"Not entirely." She replied and his face fell.

"Why then?"

"What you said to me in the park, about not wanting to cancel our date. I feel awful that you felt you had to come out with me when you were worried about Simon."

"I didn't mean it like that." He protested.

"I don't want you to feel like you can't cancel on me in case I get annoyed and change my mind about us."

"I don't think that." Peter insisted, "I knew you would understand if I cancelled."

"So why didn't you?" She asked softly.

"Because I wanted to take you out."

"But we've got all the time in the world for that, I don't want Simon to feel second fiddle to me, ever. This will never work if we make the same mistake's as last time, do you understand that?"

He nodded.

"So, Michelle knows now, and you can tell Simon, and Leanne, if you want to."

"Wow." He said, still looking stunned, "I wasn't expecting you to say that at all."

"I'm sorry I left you to face the wrath of Leanne without me." She laughed, "I just couldn't handle the third degree."

"She didn't have a lot to say to be honest, but like I said, I brushed off the hand-holding."

"Well I don't think she'd be too impressed about you leaving Simon alone to go on a date with me."

"No, she probably wouldn't, but it's not her business Carla."

"But Simon is her business, that's the problem. That was always the problem."

"Simon loves you." Peter says simply.

Carla smiled at this, there did seem to be fewer obstacles this time around.

"And my romantic life is none of Leanne's business, quite frankly." He continued.

"Well," She said, "Let's leave it there for now and get some work done."

"Yes boss." He smiled.

The day dragged. Since they were still working their way through Brad Thomas' order, they weren't in the market for new business, but Carla had put out some feelers nonetheless. Peter had been making himself useful by helping Kirk in packing, leaving Carla alone in the office to continue doing what she'd been doing all day – fret about their relationship. She felt as though she was teetering on a cliff edge, unsure whether or not to jump. She was running out of time; she couldn't string Peter along forever. She still had doubts, but she was beginning to wonder if they would ever fully disappear. As Michelle had said, she would never know unless she tried. Suddenly Carla had an idea.

"I'll tell you something," Peter said as he re-entered the office a while later, "Kirk can't half fill those boxes fast. It was like he was competing for a Guinness world record!" He rolled his sleeves back down as he took a seat in his swivel chair.

Carla smiled, "Well that's why he's my number one packer. You're number two of course."

He winked at her, "How's it going in here?"

"Boring."

"You should do an hour in packing."

"No thanks," She pulled a face, "Might break a nail."

"Anything you want me to do?" He asked her.

"Not really, there's not much to do." She paused, "I've been thinking about our next date."

"Oh yeah." Peter perked up at this.

"And I hope you don't mind, but I've booked something."

"A restaurant?" He asked.

She shook her head and he raised an eyebrow.

"I've booked a hotel."