Chapter Four

It was the following day and Carla was currently sitting at her desk in work. She was making her way through the paperwork for a recent order. She skimmed her way through the figures of the document making sure they were correct before she signed them off. She hadn't actually been in work all the long when there was a knocking at her office door. It was Sally. "Uh… Mrs Connor… Michelle is here to see you." She said. It wasn't unusual for Michelle to pop by the factory, she often did it to get out of the pub for a little while.

"Oh okay… Tell her to come through." Carla said as she placed down the paperwork and went over to the coffee machine to make herself and Michelle a coffee.

"Morning." Michelle said as she entered Carla's office and placed her bag down on the chair while she leaned against Carla's desk.

"Alright?" Carla asked causally as she handed Michelle her coffee and she sat back down in her chair.

"Yeah, I'm good." Michelle nodded. Michelle was waiting to see if Carla would say anything about her and Peter suddenly being friends or if she was going to have to drag it out of her.

"So, what brings you here today then? Not that I don't mind the distraction or that I don't want to see ya." Carla asked as she could instantly tell by the look on Michelle's face, she had something to say.

"Just thought I'd pop by… See how you're doing." Michelle said taking a sip of her drink. Carla just nodded. Michelle was acting strange and rather vague.

"I'm good." Carla said.

"I thought you would've swung by the pub yesterday evening." Michelle said.

"Oh, I was going to, but Nick and I went out for the day, and we ended up just going back to his flat." Carla said. Carla was still not showing any sign of bringing up Peter. Michelle knew that it wasn't any of her business and Carla was a grown adult who could make her own decisions, but Michelle deeply cared for Carla and knew how much pain Peter had caused her.

"Maybe it's a good job you didn't come over… Considering Peter spent his evening in the pub." Michelle said firmly.

"Oh, right… Just as well then." Carla wasn't sure if Michelle was being funny with her because she didn't go to the pub last night, but Carla hadn't even said to Michelle she would be going which confused Carla greatly. Michelle huffed as she was growing rather frustrated with Carla. "What?" Carla asked cautiously.

"You're really going to sit there and not say a word about how you and Peter are suddenly friends?" Michelle asked as she shifted from leaning against the desk to being stood up.

"Peter told you?" Carla questioned as she frowned. It wasn't as though her and Peter had made some sort of agreement that they weren't going to tell anyone, but Carla was just worried about what Nick might think of the whole situation considering their relationship is all very new.

"Well… He didn't exactly tell me, but I overheard him speaking to Ken and your name happened to crop up…" Michelle said. "So, what actually happened and why didn't you tell me?" Michelle asked. Carla just sighed but told Michelle what happened, nonetheless.

"I bumped into him when I left the Rover's the other night… Things were so awkward, and I can't live around here with him if I'm just going to be avoiding him all the time… So, I just suggested that we might as well be civil towards each other." Carla explained.

"I think there's a difference between being civil and being friends." Michelle said as she raised her eyebrows at Carla

"Well, the following morning, I went into Roy's and he was sitting at a table and we got chatting because we agreed we weren't going to ignore each other… He was telling me the reason why he's back, it's because Simon has gone well and truly off the rails. He didn't want to offload but I insisted he wasn't because that's what friends are for, and I basically dragged it out of him anyway." Carla explained the situation while Michelle listened intently.

"And Nick knows about this then?" Michelle asked. Carla sighed and looked down. Michelle just shook her head.

"I haven't actually told him… But it's only because our relationship is so new that I don't want him to freak out because it's not like Nick and Peter have ever been best buddies." Carla defended. Michelle just nodded trying to understand where Carla was coming from.

"If you don't tell Nick, and he finds out… He's going to think there's a bigger reason as to why you couldn't tell him." Michelle said.

"Yeah, I know that, but he doesn't have anything to worry about, this is completely innocent and just so Peter and I can get on with our lives." Carla assured. Carla was a little annoyed that Michelle felt the need to stick her nose but knew she was only being like this because she cared.

"So, what, you've forgiven and forgotten what Peter did to you?… Because if you have, I'll remind you." Michelle said raising her eyebrows.

"No, I haven't forgotten… I never will forget it but, maybe I've forgiven him." Carla mused.

"How could you forgive him; he was having an affair with a girl half his age while you were carrying his baby?" Michelle said with a frown. Carla looked up at Michelle and sighed.

"I didn't actually say I've forgiven him but like I said, he lives over the road from me, and I can't live the rest of my life avoiding him or arguing, can I?" Carla said. Michelle agreed because she knew Carla was being reasonable and it did make sense that Carla just wanted a peaceful life after everything that she's been through.

"Okay." Michelle said, still not completely approving but Carla was too stubborn to be told what to do. "But you need to tell Nick, that one, you've spoken to Peter and two, that you've agreed to be friends."

"Yeah, I know." Carla said softly and nodded.

"Why don't you and Nick pop to the pub later?" Michelle suggested. "After you've told him about Peter."

"Yeah, sounds good." Carla smiled.

The rest of the day dragged; she really wasn't in a good mood which meant her employees always took the brunt of it. The likes of Sally, Beth and Sean did nothing but gossip and put Carla's mood down to Peter being back. Carla knew Michelle was right and that she needed to have the conversation with Nick about Peter. All Carla seemed to spend the day doing was overthink. She really liked her relationship with Nick and didn't want to risk anything bad happening between them but knew if she wasn't completely honest and open with him then their relationship would have no hope.

Carla got home from work that evening and texted Nick to tell him to come to hers and they'd go to the pub later. Once Nick had finished work, he went over to Carla's, and she greeted him with a kiss as he entered her flat. "Work alright?" Carla asked.

"Yeah, wasn't too bad… There was a mishap with one of our new waiters tipping a whole tray of drinks on the floor, but I guess what's done is done." Nick said as he followed Carla into her kitchen. Carla had already opened a bottle of wine and had a large glass filled which Nick noticed. He wasn't one to comment on her drinking habits, but he was aware that when Carla was stressed or had something on her mind the first thing, she'd do was have a drink. "Bad day?" He said referring to the glass of wine which was situated on the counter.

"Uh… No, not really." Carla swallowed. "I… Uh… Do need to talk to you about something… Something very minor and irrelevant to my life now." Carla said vaguely which rather confused Nick. Nick frowned. Carla was mentally preparing for the worst, it's what she always did when something had the potential to go very wrong.

"And what's that?" He asked cautiously. He couldn't quite read Carla's body language as she was very good at putting on a mask to hide how she truly felt about something.

"So… I bumped into Peter." Carla said as she took a sip of wine.

"Oh right, okay." Nick said. This was somewhat of a relief to Nick as his first instinct was that something was terribly wrong.

"And well… Since we're both living around here, we were just talking and decided that instead of things being awkward… We should just be friends to save ourselves and everyone else the hassle." Carla said taking a breath and waiting for Nick's response. The last thing she wanted was for him to be annoyed at her. "That is okay, isn't it?" she bit her lip in anticipation.

"Why wouldn't it be? You've moved on from him and that part of your life, right?" Nick questioned.

"Yes, absolutely." Carla nodded firmly.

"Then I see no problem with that." Nick said with a very convincing smile. Carla felt relief that she hadn't gone and done something which Nick didn't approve of. She smiled back at him and walked to the other side of the counter where Nick was standing. She placed a kiss on his lips which he reciprocated.

If Nick was being honest, he wasn't comfortable with the idea of Carla and Peter being friends. It wasn't Carla that he didn't trust it was Peter. Nick had seen first-hand how Peter was capable of getting any woman he wanted. Nick didn't think for once second that Carla would've given Peter the time of day but his own insecurities could potentially get in the way.

A little while later, Carla and Nick entered the Rover's. Considering it was a Monday evening, it wasn't exactly busy. There were a few people at different tables such as Sally and Tim on one table and few of Carla's employees at another table. Carla was relieved to see that Peter wasn't here. Nick went and sat down at a table while Carla went up to the bar to order their drinks. "you've told him?" Michelle asked quietly. Carla nodded. "So, what can I get you?" Michelle smiled.

Carla ordered their drinks and sat next to Nick at the table before Michelle joined them, carrying the drinks Carla had ordered. The three of them chatted for some time. It wasn't anything trivial, just a general chat amongst friends. Carla began to get tired and couldn't help herself from yawning. She'd had two glasses of wine, which didn't help her tiredness. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed. She'd put this down to obsessively worrying these past couple of days and now she didn't have anything to worry about. Her and Peter were fine, and Nick was fine with it too. "I think it's time I head home." Carla yawned. Nick still had an almost full glass of drink which Carla had noticed, but she just felt too exhausted to stay. "Why don't you finish that then if you like you can come back to mine?" Carla suggested to which Nick agreed to.

"Yeah okay." He nodded. Carla got up from the table and kissed Nick goodbye before she gave Michelle a kiss on the cheek.

Carla had left the Rover's and Michelle went to go and help behind the bar before Nick called her back to the table. "Everything alright?" She asked as she wondered why Nick wanted to talk to her seemingly without Carla being present. She sat back down opposite him.

"She told me that her and Peter are 'friends'." He said and Michelle nodded. "So, she's told you that she's seen him?" Nick questioned and Michelle nodded. "You know Carla better than anyone, right?" Nick asked raising his eyebrows.

"Hmm probably." Michelle said with a chuckle but stopped because she could see Nick was clearly stewing.

"Right, so do I have anything to worry about?" He asked rather desperately. Michelle sighed, knowing that Nick very much felt uneasy about Peter being back here and the fact he was in a relationship with his ex-wife.

"I know that Carla really likes you and values your relationship…" Michelle started.

"Me, you, and everyone around here knew how much Carla loved Peter… They were like Burton and Taylor." Nick said making a comment on Carla and Peter's past relationship which made him feel even more insecure.

"Yeah." Michelle nodded with a sad smile because she knew the heartache Carla had been through. "I don't think that I'd ever seen her love anyone like him but… he screwed it up majorly… He broke her, there's no way that Carla would ever consider giving him another chance, not when she's got a man like you in her life and I'm so certain of that." Michelle said hoping that she was at least trying to make Nick feel more confident about his relationship with Carla. Nick nodded, hoping that Michelle was right.

"Please don't tell her about this… I do trust her… and I'd go as far as saying that I genuinely love her… I don't need her thinking I'm paranoid." Nick said and Michelle agreed. She knew Nick meant well and by the sounds of it loved Carla.

Shortly after speaking to Michelle, he made his way to Carla's flat. Carla was getting ready for bed and was already in her pyjamas when she answered the door to him. Nick wasn't going to tell her about how he didn't like the idea of her and Peter being friends but the last thing he wanted was to push her away and possibly into Peter's arms. For now, he would just enjoy the time he spends with Carla.