It was the day before Deirdre Barlow's funeral and for once, all was quiet in Underworld on that miserable Tuesday afternoon.
The machinists had all come back from their lunch break and were surprised to find that their boss still hadn't come into work yet. She had been AWOL all morning and her employees were all starting to wonder where she had been.
They didn't have to wonder for too much longer because at two thirty pm the door flew open and in came Carla.
She stumbled through the door and it didn't take long for the machinists and the other Underworld staff to see that Carla had spent the morning drinking.
"What are ya all staring at?" She slurred as she closed the door behind her.
"Mrs Connor?" Sally Webster said, getting up and looking stunned to see her boss in this state. "Is everything okay?"
"No they are not as a matter of fact Sal!" Carla began, her voice booming through the quiet factory. "Why the hell am I getting phone calls from Harding telling me that the order they were expecting today, hasn't arrived yet?" the factory workers all looked between each other and then back at Carla who was waiting wide eyed for a response.
"We don't know…" Sally said awkwardly, taking charge because after all, she was supposed to be Carla's go to person for this type of thing. "Kirk left here with it... about an hour ago now."
"An hour ago?" Carla exclaimed, holding onto the doorframe to support her because after a morning of too much wine, she couldn't really stand up straight. "That order was supposed to be completed this morning!"
"Yes well we were a little behind schedule and…"
"Y'know what Sal, I don't wanna hear any of your excuses!" Carla said rubbing her head and then holding onto the door frame to steady herself again. She sighed heavily and then said, "This place is closed tomorrow for Deirdre's funeral so we can't afford to be any more behind than we are already! Before you all leave today I want you to make sure that every single knicker in this place is stitched and ready to leave this building... and leave this building on time!" Carla then turned around and almost tripped on her way into her office.
The factory was quiet for a while, the machinists all looked at each other in shock and it was Sean who spoke first.
"Well we aven't seen that in a while." he said with an eyebrow raised. The Underworld staff who had been there for many years were all too used to seeing a drunken Carla make an appearance, although as Sean stated it was something that they really hadn't seen for a long time.
"I've never seen her like that." Alya said looking concerned as she was the newest member of staff.
"Oh don't worry about her she'll be fine." Beth said from across the room.
"Yeah, this is just Carla, she sometimes drinks… a lot." Sean nodded but Alya still kept her eye on the office door.
"It's probably just because of Deirdre." Beth said sitting down at her station.
"Well if she's really upset maybe we should get someone?" Alya then said,
"Like who?" Sean asked as he turned on his sewing machine so that he could get to work.
"I dunno… Nick maybe?" Alya suggested
"Or Peter?" Beth said with a smirk,
"Peter?" said Alya, Beth glanced around to make sure that Carla was well and truly out of ear shot before whispering,
"Well from what I hear, those two have practically been inseparable since he's been back."
"Well I'm sure she's just helping out the family." said Sally.
"No... it's more than that." Beth said in another whisper, just in case Carla had surfaced again.
"Oh please." Sally said rolling her eyes as Sean looked intrigued.
"It's true, Tracy told me Carla's been round almost every day." Beth said smugly, as if she was glad that she was friends with Tracy so that she could get all the inside scoop.
"Even so, I don't think we should call anyone, She'll only hate us for it." Sean said as Sally shook her head walked towards Carla's office.
"What d'ya want Sal?" Carla said, rifling through her draws, looking for that trusty bottle of wine that she kept hid in there in case of an emergency.
She had been drinking on and off since finding out that Nick was cheating on her last night.
The fact that she had once again been cheated on, was just too much for her to bare sober. The only reason she had come to the factory was because she had ran out of wine and whilst she was on her way to buy some more, she'd had received a phone call from a client complaining about not getting his order on time.
"Well me n the girls… n Sean were just wondering if you were okay?" Sally said awkwardly as Carla sat upright. She had found the bottle of wine but had kept it hidden in her draw because she didn't want Sally to see it. "We were wondering if you wanted us to get someone for you? Or we could call Nick?" she suggested.
"Don't you dare call him!" Carla said darkly, at the mention of her cheating boyfriend's name. "Don't you dare call anyone."
"But…"
"Oh just stop sticking your nose in my business n get back to work Sally." Carla sighed waving Sally to get out of her office.
Sally knew better than to wind up her boss, so she left her to it and when Carla was sure that no one was looking, she took a large swig of her hidden wine.
The bottle of wine had finished within the hour of course, so Carla got up and decided to go and get some more, just as Kirk returned to the factory.
"Kirk! Where the hell ave you been?" Carla cried, making every single machinist look up and stop sewing.
"Oh sorry Mrs Connor…" he began but Carla cut him of with a raise of her hand.
"Save it!" She said sighing and shaking her head at him. "I don't want to hear another word."
"But there was a load of traffic?" Kirk said not getting Carla's hint for him to shut up.
"What did I just say Kirk? Traffic or not that order was meant to go out this morning, not this afternoon. As I said earlier you lot better pull it together." Carla said, although judging by her current state of mind, she was the one who needed to pull it together. She still couldn't stand upright and was still slurring her words as she spoke.
"But Mrs Connor you're being unfair." Beth said, sticking up for herself as well as her husband.
"Oh am I?" Carla cried, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "Y'know what Beth? Life is flaming unfair, sometimes people get told off at work, sometimes people get cheated on and sometimes people die way before their time..." Her voice cracked as she spoke and she sniffed to stop herself from crying.
"What's people dying got to do with it?" Beth turned to Alya confused, as Carla suddenly spun around and closed her office door with a slam, making all her employees jump in the process.
"Maybe we should have called Nick… I mean he is her boyfriend, he might be able to help." Alya said but Carla heard this and shook her head.
"Nick! What did I say about calling him? I swear sometimes being you lot's boss is like talking to the flamin brick wall!" She cried, lurching towards the door of the factory.
"Wait... where are you going?" Sally foolishly cried. Carla stopped dramatically in her tracks and turned around to face Sally. It was then that her employees could see the tears behind her eyes and see how upset she truly was.
"Not that it's any of your business Sally but I'm going home. Try not to burn the place down whilst I'm gone and make sure you lock up properly!" Carla sneered before walking right out of the building and leaving her employees in shock.
She thought about going home and trying to get sober but only for a second instead she stopped off at Dev's shop purchased a bottle of wine before staggering back to her flat, alone.
Later that evening, after calling her phone about ten times and getting no answer, Peter ventured out of his Dad's house and into The Rover's to see if he could find Carla.
He had wanted to speak to her earlier on in the day but had been racking his brains trying to think of the right words and how to say them.
"Hey… you haven't seen Carla today ave you Chelle?" Peter said to Michelle as he approached the bar, he had hoped that Michelle might have seen or heard from her best friend but as she shook her head he frowned. "Really?"
"No… I haven't." Michelle said, "The last time I spoke to her was yesterday morning and she said she was expecting a call from you."
"Oh right…" Peter said, wishing he had phoned her after all. After thinking about things a lot he had decided that he needed to tell Carla how he really felt about her, that he still loved her and that even though he knew she'd never forgive him for what he did, he really wanted her to know. He also wanted to tell her that whilst he could probably get used to life back in Weatherfield, he would never get used to her being with someone else and he just couldn't stick around the street for too long see her with Nick.
The image of Nick and Leanne kissing had tortured him for days now and as it seemed like Nick probably wouldn't be telling Carla about it anytime soon, Peter felt like he just couldn't keep it to himself for much longer and that he had to try his very best not to say anything.
The reason being because it was Deirdre's funeral tomorrow and he knew that it was going to be hard enough to get through the day as it is without hurting Carla in the process.
"Did ya call her in the end?" Michelle asked, now looking slightly concerned because she also hadn't heard from Carla since yesterday.
"No… well not in the morning but I called her last night and she didn't answer… I thought maybe she was asleep but since she hasn't answered my calls today either... I wondered if maybe I'd done something wrong?" Peter said to Michelle as Sean walked into the pub.
"What are you two looking so concerned about?" he asked Michelle as he went behind to bar to begin his evening shift.
"Carla…" Michelle sighed, "Was she in the factory today?" Sean nodded cautiously and then raised an eyebrow, "What?" Michelle then asked,
"Well she was in today it's just… well lets just say she spent most of the day in her office... with a not so sneaky, bottle of red." Sean said.
"Seriously?" Michelle cried.
"Yeah… although if I'm honest she came in absolutely bladdered." Said Sean, "Had a right go at all of us actually, she was almost crying at one point."
"And none of you thought about telling someone?" Michelle said shaking her head at Sean in disappointment.
"Well we did but she told us not to, Y'know what she is like, she can be quite scary at the best of times, let alone when's she's had a few drinks in her." Sean said going to serve a customer.
"Well I guess that explains why she didn't answer me phone calls." Peter sighed, Michelle looked around at the busy bar and there was no way she could leave Sean to deal with it on his own. She bit her lip, then looked at Peter and from this look, he could tell exactly what she was thinking.
"What number is she?" He asked with sigh.
"Twelve."
Peter walked the short walk to Victoria Court and luckily another resident of the building was on their way out, so he could get in without ringing her buzzer.
He guessed it would be easier to get into Carla's flat if he was directly outside her door rather than outside the building.
He knocked a few times before calling out her name.
"Carla… Carla it's Peter can you let me in, please?" There was no answer. "Carla... Listen darlin I'm not going anywhere so you might as well let me in." He said with his hand pressed up against the door. "I can do this all night." Peter said. He had to knock four more times before Carla eventually gave in and opened her door.
"What... are you doing ere?" she sighed, dressed in a black dressing gown and nothing else it seemed.
"I've come to borrow a cup of sugar." Peter grinned but Carla was not amused.
"Ha ha very funny... why didn't you call me yesterday morning like ya said you would?" she asked, her green eyes were bloodshot and looked sore again, in a state that Peter had seen way too much recently.
"I tried to call you last night only you didn't answer… I'm guessing that by that point you were too full of booze to answer your phone." Peter said with an eyebrow raised.
"Don't even think about judging me." Carla slurred and although she was upset and angry about the events that had happened over the past week, there was still a part of her that was looking at Peter with love.
"Can I come in?" he asked although he walked right into her flat anyway, without being invited.
"What do ya want?" Carla said, closing the door behind him. Peter looked at her coffee table and saw the half open bottle of wine that she had been making her way through before he arrived.
"I came to see if you were okay… are you?" he asked, Carla laughed sarcastically and shook her head at him.
"No… no I'm not okay!" She said, she bit her lip hesitantly and then tipsily moved towards Peter. "But... I'll be okay now you're ere." She then roughly pushed her lips up against his and put her hands either side of his face.
For one precious moment, Peter let her kiss him and then he thought about things properly.
"Carla… Stop it." He said backing away but as she went to kiss him again, he moved back. "Carla, what are you doing?"
"I'm just doing what we've wanted to do for days." Carla said, Peter could see that she was not completely wasted but she'd definitely had enough to make her think that kissing Peter would be a good idea.
"You're drunk." Peter said, shaking his head at her and trying to ignore the temptation of the open bottle of wine that was still on her coffee table.
"So?" Carla says with another sarcastic laugh, "Come on Peter we've been fighting this ever since you got back ere." She said, taking him by the jacket and trying to pull him towards her sofa.
"Carla... you really ave to stop this." Peter pleaded, the thin dressing gown that she was wearing mixed with the taste of alcohol was making him feel nervous.
"Oh come on Peter… you can't tell me that you don't want to be my rebound guy." Carla smirked although a tear dribbled down her cheek as she spoke.
"What?" Peter exclaimed, "Your rebound?... Carla what-"
"I broke up with Nick." Carla cried and then she hazily remembered that she hadn't actually managed to break up with Nick yet.
"What? When?" Peter asked as Carla clung onto his coat. He was mighty relieved that she had decided to end things with Nick but he felt like something about the situation wasn't quite right, like the fact that she was now heavily drinking, for a start.
"Well now that I think about it... I aven't actually dumped him yet but I was going to yesterday."
"And why didn't you?" Peter asked, taking Carla's hands off his coat and keeping her at an arms length so that he didn't have to keep rejecting more of her drunken advances.
"Does it matter?" she asked trying to kiss Peter again, he backed away from her with all his might and nodded.
"Yeah… it does." He breathed, "It really really does, I mean what made you decided not to break up with him?"
"Why are you so bothered about Nick…?" Carla exclaimed with even more tears in her eyes than before, "He's probably upstairs right now with his tongue halfway down Leanne's throat as we speak."
"What?" Peter said, stunned.
So she finally knew.
He was curious to find out whether Nick had been the one to tell her, or if was Leanne or maybe even Bethany.
"You heard... I saw em… last night down at the bistro, they were kissing each other like they hadn't spent a bloody moment apart." Carla said sitting down on her sofa.
"What?" Peter said, only this time out of anger rather than shock.
He had warned Nick what would happen if the Leanne thing happened more than once and here he was hearing that it did, hearing that Nick was stupid enough to do it again and in the same place he had been caught the first time around.
He wanted to go out and kick the crap out of him but he knew he couldn't leave Carla alone in this state.
"I just walked away from em… left em to it… they are welcome to each other." Carla said, taking the top of the bottle of wine and going to drink some more of it, Peter shook his head at her and took the bottle away. She protested as much as she could but her slightly drunken state was no match for an angry Peter, so she reluctantly let him take the bottle and put it into the bin.
Peter still didn't know what to say. He wanted to tell Carla that he knew about it but he knew that right now wasn't the time to do so. She was too intoxicated to process that information properly, so he went and put the kettle on instead.
"I'm gonna make you a coffee."
"Yeah… coz coffee's gonna make everything better." Carla sighed, rubbing her sore eyes.
"Well it's gonna make you sober up… and that's a start." Peter said not letting Carla's sarcasm get to him.
"And what if I don't want to sober up… what then eh?" Carla asked,
"Well I'm afraid you don't ave any choice… I mean I don't see anymore wine around ere so unless you fancy fighting me out the door..." Peter said after checking the fridge and cupboards and making sure that there really was no alcohol left in her flat.
Carla rolled her eyes and knew that she wouldn't be able to get rid of Peter, so she let him carry on in her kitchen, after while when she realised he had no idea what he was doing or what he was looking for, so she clambered up off the sofa and followed him into the kitchen.
"I don't know why I'm so surprised." Peter looked at her, "I should really be used to playing second fiddle to Leanne Battersby by now, It's me own fault I suppose."
"Don't say that..." Peter said shaking his head, "This is just Nick n Leanne's fault..." He said, in an attempt to try to make the situation a little easier on Carla.
"Yeah I know… you know you might as well say I told you so because I know that you are thinking it." Carla said leaning against her kitchen wall.
"I'm not." Peter said as he switched on her silver kettle.
"Yes you are… that day I were round your Dad's you practically warned me this would happen didn't you, you told me they were meant for each other and that I had no chance." Carla said leaning over and pointing Peter into the direction of the cupboard where she kept her coffee.
"I don't think I quite said it like that." Peter said taking out the coffee and putting some in a mug.
"Yeah well... you were right weren't ya." Carla said wiping her tearstained cheek.
"Well... if it makes you feel any better, I really wish that I wasn't... I hate seeing you like this." Peter said.
Carla didn't speak again until she was sat back on her sofa, Peter was sat next to her in silence whilst she sipped coffee and tried to sober up a little bit.
Peter had still been trying to find the right way to tell Carla that he knew about Leanne and Nick. He went to speak as another tear fell down Carla's cheek.
"Do you think it's because we kissed?" she said before Peter could start talking.
"What d'ya mean?" He asked.
"I mean Nick… do you think he wanted to get revenge or that he decided that I needed a taste of me own medicine or summat?" Carla said staring ahead at her living room wall, it was almost like her eyes had glazed over and that she was staring right through it.
"I don't think so..." Peter said although at this point he really wasn't sure.
"I don't think so either…" Carla eventually said, "It didn't look like they were just kissing either… Nick had his jacket off, his tie undone…" Carla stopped talking and just shook her head instead.
Peter was getting angrier the more Carla spoke about the situation.
As hypocritical as it may be he still wanted to go and lay into Nick for causing Carla so much hurt and the only reason he was still in her flat was because she needed him there.
"He hasn't even called y'know." Carla said looking down at her phone. "I phoned him on Saturday n said I needed space and ere we are on Tuesday... I aven't had one single phone call from him."
"He's a flaming idiot." Peter said, trying hard to understand exactly what was going though Nick's mind right now.
"No... I'm the idiot." Carla sniffed, putting her mug down on the table.
"Don't..."
"What's wrong with me Peter?" Carla said, then she turned to look at Peter straight in the eye. "Seriously... What is so wrong with me that no man can stay faithful?"
"Carla… there is nothing wrong with you… absolutely nothing… you are perfect." Peter promised but Carla shook her head disbelievingly.
"Peter there must be… Paul cheated, you cheated, Nick cheated… I don't know about you but I see a pattern emerging ere."
"Yeah... a pattern of lousy men who don't deserve to breathe the same air as you, let alone be in a relationship." Peter said, hating that Carla was, after all these years still blaming her self for all the horrible things that the men in her life had put her through.
"I'm obviously just not good enough… why am I not good enough Peter?" She sobbed, tears streaming down her tired face.
"Yes, yes you are Carla." Peter insisted, his heart breaking for the woman sat next to him.
"No I'm not… I've never been good for anyone… I've always felt this way. I wasn't good enough for Nick, I wasn't good enough for Liam, for Paul... for you. Even our baby decided not to ave me for a Mum." Carla cried shaking her head in despair. Peter moved closer to her and wiped her cheeks, feeling like bursting into tears himself.
"Don't you dare say that." He said hoarsely, "You told me the other day how the doctor said it was just one of those things right?" Carla nodded but she was still crying inconsolably.
"I know I said that… and sometimes I really do believe it but… other times I can't help but think that she… our baby and everyone else that gets too close to me... I can't help but think that they just get fed up of me and decide to make a quick exit." Carla said wiping her eyes.
"I could never get fed up of you Carla." Peter said, wiping a tear away from his own eye this time.
"But you did though…" Carla said, her voice breaking as she spoke. "You did and I don't blame ya."
"No… No I didn't, I was stupid enough to cheat on you but Carla I promise you that I would never, ever get fed up of you. Coming back ere and spending the past week with you has made me realise just how mind numbingly stupid I was to ave even thought about not spending the rest of my life with you." Peter then put his arms around her and let Carla cry against his chest.
"I hate this... I hate how different everything is now, I hate that Deirdre has gone, I hate that you left and most of all... I hate that you cheated on me and ruined everything we had." Carla cried, her voice slightly muffled as she still had her head buried in Peter's jacket.
"Me too Carla, Me too." Peter nodded.
He still really wanted her to know the truth about Leanne and Nick but as she sobbed into his chest and clung onto him for dear life, he just couldn't seem to do it. Instead he let her stay where she was, he let her cry into his arms, he let her stay there until her sobs began to quieten and until she eventually fell fast asleep.
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