"So you're hoping to get some more business from this event tonight, then?" Michelle asked as her and Carla were sitting at a table in Roy's drinking a coffee before they would head over to the factory and open up for the day.

"Yeah, hopefully." Carla nodded as she sipped her drink. There wasn't actually a business event tonight, Carla had made it up as an excuse as to why she wasn't about this evening because she was in fact spending the night at a hotel with Peter.

"You know… I could tag along if you like, it'll help me get some experience for meeting new clients and going to fancy events." Michelle suggested. Carla shook her head a bit too quickly.

"Oh, it's invitation only… It's been booked for months." She lied hoping Michelle wouldn't suggest anything further. Michelle just nodded, looking slightly disappointed.

"There'll be plenty more that you can come to, don't worry." Carla assured, feeling slightly guilty that she was blatantly lying to Michelle's face.

It was then when Peter entered the cafe. "Morning, ladies." Peter said as he walked past them to get to the counter to order a coffee. He briefly glanced at Carla who gave him a quick look. Whenever, they saw each other out and about, they did their best to act as though they didn't have any interest in each other. They didn't want to act suspicious. However, if anything it made them look more suspicious.

"Morning, Peter." Michelle said cheerily while Carla gave a small smile but not making much eye contact. It was rather awkward being around each other, knowing what they were doing in secret. "What's wrong with you?" Michelle asked Carla who was suddenly not herself.

"Nothing." She shrugged. "Why would you say that?" Carla asked a little to harshly.

"I thought you and Peter were friends… You just blanked him." Michelle said.

"Maybe, I'm just tired and not in the mood to be social this morning." Carla huffed as she picked up her bag to leave the cafe and make the walk over to work.

Michelle quickly followed Carla out of the cafe, surprised at her instant change in mood. "Have you and Peter had a falling out I don't know about?" Michelle asked as she walked after Carla.

"What?" Carla sighed as she stopped walking.

"I just thought as of recently you and him had become somewhat close… And that back there was… weird." Michelle said. Michelle could see Carla clearly wasn't in the mood right now so decided to drop the conversation. The last thing Michelle wanted was to be stuck in an office with a moody Carla for the rest of day.

The day seemed to very much drag for both Carla and Peter. Peter had sent Carla a text confirming the hotel booking and the address. They were going to be staying in a fancy hotel in the centre of the city. It would be a place where they could just be themselves and not worry about anyone seeing them. Their only worry was either Michelle or Leanne becoming suspicious.

Peter had an ongoing lie with Leanne that he was helping an old mate and would be out for the night. It was safe to say that Leanne wasn't entirely sure whether to believe him especially after he came home late the other evening. However the last thing Leanne wanted was to come across as a needy girlfriend who couldn't trust her partner, especially when they were supposed to be getting married rather soon.

The wedding wasn't something Peter could think about at the moment. He had no idea how he was supposed to break Leanne's heart with the least amount of damage let alone ruining Simon's life once again. Yet, there was something so amazing about Carla that he wasn't able to let go of. It was as though he was enchanted by her. Never in his wildest dreams did he think a woman like Carla would ever want to be with him. All he knew was that he was in deep trouble.

By the time Carla had managed to finish work and book a taxi, Peter was already at the hotel. He was waiting at the entrance as her taxi pulled up and she pulled out her overnight bag. "You made it." Peter said as Carla greeted him with a loving kiss on the lips.

"Of course I made it." She smiled kissing him once more. They were soon disturbed when they realised they were blocking the entrance to the hotel, so they made their way inside to get checked in.

Carla could instantly see that this wasn't a cheap hotel. In fact she felt rather bad as Peter insisted that he would pay for them which ended up costing a few hundred pounds just for one night. They were given the key to their room and made their way up.

Their room was gorgeous. There was a large bed with white sheets in the middle. A fairly big bathroom with a free standing bath and a shower and there was also a mini bar which both Carla and Peter knew they wouldn't be touching tonight. The view from the window was stunning too. You could see the city for miles as the tall building lit up the horizon. "Peter, this is too much… You didn't need to book a hotel this fancy." She said as she turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck before placing a kiss on his lips.

"You deserve it." He replied as he kissed her back more passionately.

"Why don't I run you a nice hot bath before we go out for our dinner reservation?" Peter asked.

"As long as you join me in this nice, hot bath." Carla said with a suggestive smile.

They quite literally wasted no time in getting into the bath together. In fact it was over an hour later when they finally got out of the bath to get ready for their meal.

Carla had put on a tight short sleeved black dress, her black high heeled boots and leather jacket. Peter was quite literally blown away with how gorgeous she looked. "You… Look… Amazing." He said between kisses.

"You don't look too bad yourself." Carla replied as she eyed up his black shirt.

The restaurant was just as incredible as the hotel. It started to make Carla worry that Peter thought she only cared about how much money a man had. They were both seated in a corner table and were currently eyeing up the menu. "I could down a glass of red." Carla admitted. Peter looked up at her, as far as he was concerned she'd stopped drinking all together since getting a driving ban. "But I won't succumb." She said assuringly.

"You're doing so well… And that wasn't meant to sound patronising." Peter said as he took her hand in his from across the table. "You're strong and resilient and I know that you will beat this."

"Thanks for believing in me." She said softly. When she doubted herself the most, Peter was there to give her the reassurance she desperately needed.

"I'll never stop believing in you." He added which made Carla smile.

They spent the rest of the evening in utter bliss. The food was perfect and after desert they made their way back to the hotel room. After the obvious, Carla was cuddled up into Peter chest while he had his arm around her. "You know Michelle is starting to get a little suspicious." Carla said breaking the comfortable silence they had both been laying in. Peter sighed.

"What's she said?" He asked. Carla sat herself up more as this was a pretty important conversation.

"She said that she noticed how close we've gotten as of recently and if we had a falling out after how awkward this morning was in Roy's." Carla said.

"Well, I mean maybe it's not a bad thing that she thinks we've had a row or something, it's better than her thinking that we're having an affair." He said.

"You mean the truth… It's better that she thinks we aren't close anymore?" Carla questioned.

"Yeah, at least she won't suspect anything more is going on." Peter said. Carla just nodded.

"What about Leanne? Has she said anything?" Carla asked.

"She doesn't suspect a thing." Peter said although that wasn't the entire truth because he knew she was starting to not quite believe him.

"Have you… Er thought anymore about telling her?" Carla asked sheepishly. She didn't want to cause any upset after a lovely evening but it constantly played on her mind on when he was going to tell Leanne. Peter just sighed.

"It's just hard, okay… For all she knows, we're getting married and Simon sees her as his mum… I just need more time." Peter said earning a small nod off Carla.

"Yeah, of course… Sorry for bringing it up, that was really selfish of me." Carla said immediately feeling bad that Peter had gone to all this effort tonight as she was pressuring him to end his engagement with Leanne.

What Carla and Peter weren't aware of was that Leanne and Michelle were currently sat with each other in the Rovers. Both Leanne and Michelle had gone to the pub for the same reason tonight, they were on their own. Leanne arrived first then invited Michelle to sit with her. "So you're billy no mates tonight too then?" Leanne asked to which Michelle nodded.

"Yeah, Carla's out at a business event thing tonight." Michelle said.

"Yeah, Peter out tonight too and Ken and Deirdre have got Simon." Leanne said as she sipped her glass of white wine.

"So where's Peter out to tonight?" Michelle asked just making small conversation.

"He's helping some old friend out with their drinking problem, he said a bunch of him and his mates were meeting up to give him an intervention and he'd be staying out tonight." Leanne said.

Michelle had a horrible feeling run through her. Could Carla and Peter actually be spending the night together? They'd gotten quite close and then suddenly this morning they were acting as though they'd had a falling out, maybe it was a cover? Michelle hoped and prayed she'd added two and two together and ended up with five. Leanne could see the cogs turning in Michelle's head. "Are you alright?" Leanne asked. Michelle looked up at her.

"Yeah… It's just been a busy day today and Carla wasn't in the best mood." Michelle said quickly taking a sip of her drink. "Actually I'd been meaning to ask you something… Have Carla and Peter had some falling out? Only they were acting a little odd this morning." Michelle said. Leanne frowned.

"Not that I know of." Leanne said thinking if Peter had said anything to her about Carla. "He hasn't mentioned her." Leanne added. Leanne was suddenly thinking the same as Michelle and she too hoped she'd jumped to the wrong conclusion. Leanne didn't make it known to Michelle that she too was thinking this but started to question everything Peter had said to her as of lately. He was always out 'helping and old friend' what if he was lying. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been with two women at the same time. She could also see him losing interest in planning the wedding.

"Maybe I was just looking into it a bit much." Michelle said shrugging and acting like everything was fine. Leanne just gave a weak smile and nodded.

When the following morning approach neither Carla nor Peter wanted to leave the hotel. They'd had a truly wonderful night (a part from Peter getting a little snappy when Carla mentioned Leanne - which they'd quickly moved on from) they didn't want to end. They knew as soon as they went back home, life would have to go back to normal.

Michelle, however was on the look out for Carla returning home. She wondered if she would come home alone or be with someone better yet, Peter. Michelle had been watching from the car park of Carla's flat block waiting for her to come home. In fact she almost gave up when in pulled a car with both Carla and Peter inside. "No way!" She whispered to herself.

She watched them both get out of the car and make their way up to Carla's flat. "Thank you for a wonderful evening." Carla said as she gave Peter a peck on the lips as soon as they got into the privacy of her flat.

"I'm glad you had a nice time." Peter said and Carla nodded with a smile. They were very quickly interrupted when the buzzer to Carla's flat went off. Carla went over to see who it was.

"Hello?" She asked.

"It's me, let me up." Michelle said in a clearly not impressed tone.

"I've just gotten home… I'm busy." Carla said.

"Hmm yeah with Peter… I saw you both come up here… Now let me in." Michelle said. Carla groaned.

"Now what?" Carla said to Peter as she become worried.

"It's okay… We'll tell her I've been helping you with your drink problem." Peter said thinking of a reasonable plan.

"What's going on here then?" Michelle asked.

"It's not what you think." Carla said sighing and looking over at Peter.

"So you're not having an affair?" Michelle asked.

"What? Of course not." Peter added acting shocked.

"So what's going on then?" Michelle said as she folded her arms waiting for a response.

"I've been having a problem with my drinking." Carla said. That wasn't a lie it was completely true. "And well he gets it."

"What do you mean by problem?" Michelle asked. Carla sighed.

"I've been banned from driving." Carla said clearly mortified.

"And well, you know I've been there with the booze… I've been getting her to go to meetings." Peter said.

"So where where were you both last night? It's just I saw Leanne and she said you were out last night too and I found it weird the way you were acting yesterday morning." Michelle said with a frown.

"I was at a business event, like I told you." Carla said.

"I was with a few old mates… We bumped into each other at the train station and Carla was having cravings for the drink so I just came here to offer some support." Peter said. Both Carla and Peter were hoping that Michelle believed them.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense… I'm sorry that I jumped to conclusions like that." Michelle said.

Peter soon had to return home to Leanne who gave him just as much questioning as Michelle. He obviously didn't tell her about Carla's drink problem but assured her that he was just with his friends last night. "I was thinking." Peter started as he sat on the sofa next to Leanne. "Why don't we set a date for the wedding… When we have something amazing to look forward to and it'll make it real." Peter suggested to which Leanne smiled.

"Sounds good to me." She squealed as she was genuinely so excited about the wedding. Peter knew he was digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole but he couldn't have Leanne being suspicious.

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