Chapter Text
Lisa stood over the stove working away at making dinner for the evening. Now that she had a bit of time off work she was making an effort to do some bits around the house that she normally didn’t have time for. Cooking dinner and actually sitting down and eating said dinner with Betsy being one of them. As she stirred the pasta she heard the front door open and shut as Betsy made her way into the house.
“Mum” She shouted from the entrance way
“In the kitchen Bets” Lisa replied. The teenager made her way into the kitchen and sat down at the island facing her mum.
“Well look at this, what’s the special occasion then. Gotta be something big for you to actually be cooking from scratch.” The teen teased with a playful tone to her voice.
“Ha ha very funny, although the amount of time this is taking, I remember why I am not a fan of cooking now.”
“Well then I am honored and will make the most of this prestigious event” Betsy declared with a dramatic hand placed over her heart. Lisa laughed at the teens antics. Always one for a flare of the dramatics.
“Its going to ready in about 15 minutes. Could you set the table for me?”
“Yeah okay.” Betsy replied getting down from her chair and making her way to the cutlery draw. Things had been better between the two since their talk at the factory. A new understanding seemed to have been reached and the tension that had been growing between them for the last few years was finally easing off. Lisa smiled towards her daughter as she finished off cooking the food.
The two blondes sat at the dinner table eating their food. Betsy was telling Lisa about her work day and the never ending going ons and gossip from the factory.
“oh and they were talking about Bonfire night tomorrow. Apparently they make an event of it on the street. Firework display, music and the Rovers do some special drinks or something. Anyway everybody from work is going, they asked if I wanted to go with them as well, Kinda like a team bonding event type of thing.”
“That sounds like fun Bets...Did you want to go?”
“Yeah if that’s okay, it sounds like it should be fun, and I wouldn’t want to be the only one that's not there.” Lisa smiled to herself. She was glad to see that Betsy was making the effort with the other staff at Underworld and was becoming part of the team. As much as Betsy would never admit it Lisa knew that being welcomed in to the group and included meant a lot to her.
“Okay, well of course you can go.”
“Brilliant thanks mum, I will message to let them know that I’m in.” A big smile on her face as she whipped her phone out from her pocket. ‘Just spoke to mum, I will be there for the Fireworks.’
“Okay now put your phone away and finish your food. I didn’t slave over the stove for hours for you to eat cold food.”
Later that evening Lisa was sat on the couch in front of the TV with a glass of wine in one hand and phone in the other. It had been a couple of days since she had apologised to Carla in her office and she hadn’t heard from the other woman since then. With the way they had left things she wasn't sure if she should be the one to reach out first. Carla had accepted her apology but was she still feeling animosity towards Lisa. She had blown up at her and had a right go at her so wouldn’t be surprised if Carla was still annoyed. And if she was being really honest with herself it wasn’t just that day that Carla had the right to be annoyed about, she had been pushing her away recently as it wasn’t fair to the other woman. Before she could think about it any more she opened her phone to her messages and found her chat with Carla.
‘Hey, hope you are doing okay. Betsy told me about being invited to the Bonfire night with the staff. I’m glad that she is starting to be involved as part of the team. I don’t think I could ever thank you enough for giving her the opportunity that you have. It really means a lot.’
Her thumb hovered over the send button. Was that okay to send it wasn’t too formal and she had kept to the safe subject of Betsy whilst still inquiring about how Carla was doing so didn’t seem to desperate. She read over the composed message once more before taking the leap and pressing send. She had put herself out there and made the effort to communicate, now she just had to wait and see if Carla replied. She threw her phone down towards the opposite end of the couch to try and stop herself obsessing and constantly looking to see if her message had been received. With a big sigh she turned towards the TV and tried to focus on distracting herself from her phone.
Half an hour later her phone buzzed with a notification, Lisa dived across the couch to grab her phone and her face immediately lit up with a huge smile seeing a reply from Carla.
‘Hey, well I’m glad she definitely seems to be getting on well with the others. I’m happy to have her here she is becoming a vital part of the team. I’m also happy that she will be joining us for the fireworks.’ Before she had even finished reading the text her phone vibrated again as another message came through.
‘I am doing okay, have been pretty snowed under at work the last couple of days. Have just finished getting a big order out so can chill for the next couple of days. How are you...enjoying your time off?’
The smile remained on Lisas face as she read the messages. The replies had helped her mind calm a bit. Knowing that Carla had been busy at work and was not avoiding contacting her made her feel more at ease with where the two women stood with each other.
‘Surprisingly to myself I actually have been enjoying myself haha. I have been trying to get round to some tasks that I have been putting off for a while. I even made dinner from scratch tonight for me and Bets.’
Within seconds of sending the message the ticks changed blue showing the message had been read. Lisa bit her lip as the 3 dots appeared indicating that Carla was typing back.
‘Haha well move over Nigella, there’s a new chef in town ;) I’m glad that you are taking some time for yourself though, you deserve it. Seeing as you won’t be working will you be coming to the fireworks tomorrow?’
‘I wasn’t planning on it, I didn’t even know about it until a few hours ago haha’
‘Well if you did want to come it would be great to see you. We could always sneak off from the group, god knows I can only spend time with Sally for so long.’
The blonde couldn’t wipe the smile off her face, She really hadn’t planned on going to the fireworks. It had never been something she normally did as she was usually working on Bonfire Night. Seeing as she knew she definitely wouldn’t be working maybe she should take Carla up on her offer. Plus could she really turn down the offer to spend more time with Carla. As much as she tried to not feel or admit it to herself she has missed seeing her over the last couple of days.
‘Haha you know what go on then I will come, its been years since I have been to a Firework Display.’
‘Brilliant, did you want to meet at the factory. Say about half 5?’
‘Sounds like a plan…See you tomorrow then’
‘See you tomorrow’