"You're lying," Carla said, desperately trying to ignore that niggling feeling in her stomach.
"I wish I were, Carla." Steve sighed,
"Is this true?" Michelle rounded on Tina, her eyes blazing as Tina took a step back,
"Michelle-" Tina tried to calmly respond
"Is it true?" Michelle screamed,
"Look, why don't you take this in through the back," Liz said gently, her eyes falling sympathetically to Tina; a look that did not go unnoticed by Carla
"Oh my God," she whispered, her eyes drifting between the two barmaids, "you knew?" she asked Liz in horror,
"What?" Michelle turned to look at Steve's mother, "Liz?"
At Liz's hesitation, Steve stepped forward, his brows furrowed, "Mum? You knew?"
"Yes, I knew," Liz responded exasperatedly, "and believe me, I tried to stop it!" she defended herself, "I tried to talk sense into her stubborn, naive, little head!" she gestured towards Tina
"Who else knew?" Carla asked, her eyes glassing over, as they darted around the pub,
"No one, Carla," Tina responded quietly, "We never meant for you to find out this way,"
"We?" Carla repeated, her heart sinking into the pit of her stomach
Tina nodded sadly, "Peter wanted to tell you himself,"
"That you've been having it off behind my back?" Carla snapped angrily
Tina shook her head and exhaled, "that we're in love." Steve's face scrunched up in confusion
Carla felt her heart snap in two, "when?" she breathed out
Tina looked awkwardly around her, slightly taken aback by Rita's disapproving glare in her direction. She peeled her eyes away from the woman she looked to as a foster mom, and tried to look anywhere but in Carla's eyes as she responded, "He were gonna tell you a few weeks back, but when he went round to do it, you were upset about your stepdad dying..."
Carla exhaled as more tears stung her eyes, 'He wanted to end our marriage before it even started,' she thought in despair, 'the day I found out I were pregnant...' All this time he had been stringing her along simply because she was carrying his baby. He didn't want her, or the baby; he was just too much of a coward to break it off with her...and the pressure caused him to drink...and he had blamed her for it;
So did Simon;
So did she...
She choked back on a gag. She felt her body physically crumpling forward and she pressed her palms onto the wood of the bar, the shards of glass slicing into her skin,
"What are you talking about?" Steve stated, "Peter doesn't love you."
"Yes he does, Steve," Tina angrily responded back,
"Oh yeah? Tell you that, did he?"
She didn't respond, instead folding her arms across her chest, as she looked around the pub to find all eyes, except Carla's, on her,
"God, you really are that stupid aren't ya?" Steve shouted
"How, Steve? How am I stupid?" she screamed back at him
"Oh come on Tina, you were knocking off with somebody else's husband, how did you think this would end?"
"He loves me!" Tina cried, her eyes filling with tears
"No, he may have fancied you, but he loves her!" Steve gestured to the factory boss, whose eyes were fixated on the wood of the bar, ignoring both Maria's whispered reassurances to her and the pain flashing through her palms as the glass sinked further under her skin.
"No, it was more than that..." Tina sniffled, her eyes overflowing with tears,
"Oh for God's sake Tina! You're the reason he fell off the wagon!" Steve shouted, his hands shaking on either side of his head as his anger now reached its peak, "he thought you were pregnant and he thought it were going to end his marriage," Steve continued in disgust, "And you kept nagging him and pestering him, and threatening to tell Carla, and that's why he fell off the wagon! And you have been happily standing by, bold as brass, allowing everyone else to think she was the cause, then letting her cry on your shoulder, when it were you all along!"
"When did you tell him you thought you were pregnant?" Carla's voice cut through the quiet of the pub, her tear-filled but angry eyes coming up to rest on Tina.
"Carla, your hands!" Tina cried in shock, and moved towards her only to have Carla recoil backwards from her, holding up her bleeding hand towards her warningly,
"When, Tina?" She snapped,
"March 31st," Tina answered softly
Carla exhaled a shaky breath as it dawned on her; March 31st: the same day she had chased after Peter all day to try to tell him she was pregnant; the day he made up some excuse about needing to see Allan from the group; when she finally told him she was pregnant at the flat while he kept getting those calls...her eyes locked with Michelle's knowingly, before grabbing her purse painfully from the bar and darting out of the pub
"Carla!" Michelle shouted and ran after her, Steve on her heels.
Tina remained behind the bar, her eyes looking embarrassingly around the pub before she heard Rita's soft voice next to her, "I think we need to have a little chat, don't you?"
Liz ushered them to the backroom, and came to stand behind the bar, "Tony, could you get a mop for that broken glass for us, please?" At Tony's nod, she looked around the pub, "Alright, show's over everybody."
"Carla, please," Michelle shouted as she caught up with her friend at the bookies flat entrance, "let us take you to hospital, you need to have that looked at," she gestured towards Carla's hands
Carla turned her body and leaned her back against the door, "He's been having an affair, 'Chelle," she sobbed, "he's been having an affair..."
"I know and I could swing for him, but right now, I want to get you checked out," Michelle said reassuringly, wrapping her arm supportively around her best friend, "come on darlin'," she whispered, "this stress isn't good for the baby. Let's just get you checked out, okay?"
Carla nodded, allowing Michelle to pull her towards Streetcars...
"I thought you had more sense!" Rita scoffed as she and Tina entered the pub's back room
"Oh nice, nice," Tina snapped, "not, I'm happy you found someone that makes you happy, Tina!"
"How can you?" Rita asked, "with that man?" Tina looked away in frustration, "he sails through life just - just taking, taking!" Tina's hands placed themselves on her hips as she watched Rita's frustration grow, "oh no! There's plenty of women, strong, smart women, who think they'll be the one! Is that what you think?" She raised her eyebrow at the younger woman, and Tina glanced off to the side, "that you'll succeed where all the others have failed?" At Tina's silence, Rita sneered in disgust, "for heaven's sake, he hasn't been married five minutes..."
"That was a mistake we knew on the day!" Tina defended him and Rita slowly turned back towards her as realization to just how long this affair had been going on truly struck her,
"He went through with it though, didn't he?" she responded snidely, "Got his feet under the table at the factory, his hands on the joint account?" She could see Tina putting up her defences, not wanting to see the truth that lay before her, "He's a user Tina!" she tried to reason with her in exasperation, "He will bleed you dry and then he will dump you! But you are so blind and desperate for someone, anyone to love you, you can't see-"
"Oh you'd know all about that, wouldn't ya?" Tina sneered back,
"Eh?" Rita responded, taken aback by the younger woman's tone
"Rita Tanner," Tina spat, "Sullivan, Fairclough," Rita stepped back in shock at the vitriol spewing from Tina's lips, "Love for sale? How much should I write the cheque out for-"
Rita's hand made contact with Tina's cheek so quickly she didn't even have time to process it herself, and as Tina's shocked face turned back towards her, Rita shook her head at her in disgust and stormed out of the backroom.