Chicago Love ✔️

Chapter 62: The Diner

Alex Bowman takes a bite of his burger, sitting back in his booth seat with a smile on his face afterwards. Hailey was right, the food was certainly worth it in this spot.

However, that was not why they were there. Instead, it was part of her tour of some of her favourite spots around the city. She took him down to one of her favourite shopping strips and explained why she liked the stores in saying, "It was all about the down to earth owners who you know actually care about the product." It was then they decided to grab some lunch before continuing the evening tour which brought them to this diner.

"It's a bonus that the food tastes so good still," Hailey comments, taking a bite of one of her chicken fingers after dipping it in the sweet and sour sauce. Everybody always called it that, but it was the added bit of sweetness from the extra bit of honey in the recipe that made everyone come back for it every time. "My mom gave all the recipes over to the new owners when they took over the diner." 

"Your mom?" Alex questions, taken back a bit by Hailey's comments. They had never talked about her parents ever before in the time they had spent together. They had only talked about her family in relation to those she worked with. It was fair to say Alex knew nothing about her background or childhood. 

"You heard me correctly. My parents - well, mostly my mother, ran this diner when I was a child. My father would like to say he was part of the success, but it ran better on the days he wasn't here." Alex slowly nods his head, accepting the comment. He knew there was probably more to what she was saying in relation to her father. There was an automatic distaste in how she spoke about him. "I thought that one day I would be involved in the restaurant, take it over and continue the family business. However, the idea of being a police officer, making a difference, saving the world one person at a time, doing the right thing, and making that one little girl out there feel better and safer took over every thought for me. When it came time to retire, they sold it to a couple that my mother was really good friends with from all the times they came here for food." 

"There was peace because it was in good hands?" Alex questions, earning a nod of approval from Hailey. It seemed they were both on the same pace so far in why she wanted to bring him here. "It seems they have kept everything just the way it was - from the decor to the food." 

"They told my mother they were going to do that. They told her that they wanted to keep it this way as it was special for this area of Chicago because of those things. It's a landmark to them, a token of their childhood. They wanted to hold onto that, and be able to continue sharing that more. Every time I come here to get something to eat, I can't think back to my childhood in watching my mother bust her ass to make it amazing. I even remember washing dishes in the back for a bit so I could make money to buy tickets to see Backstreet Boys." 

"Backstree-"

"Do you seriously have a problem with my music taste? Is that where the problem in this relationship is going to be? Everything has been going great until I mentioned those five sexy boys." Alex chuckles as he knew what she was trying to do with the comment. It seemed any conversation ended up with one of them flirting with the other at least a little. 

"Nick Carter may be cute, but we both know that he has nothing on me. He could try, but you would come crawling back to my arms. I hate to tell you, but you're stuck with me. Oh, and my rock music tastes as well." She glances at him a little confused. She hadn't penned him as being a rock fan. "Blink-182, The Killers, Dance Gavin Dance, Alexisonfire, My Chemical Romance...." 

"Can I say that I didn't think that would be on your spotify account?" Alex nods his head, having heard that from a couple friends when they discovered the type of music he listened to. They all expected he would be listening to hip hop or perhaps country while working on cars in his shop. "I am not totally against your music suggestions, either. I have a couple Blink-182 and My Chemical Romance songs on my rotation." 

"I guess this is something that I can live with and accept, as long as you keep making me that great coffee. But if you see rocking out, don't be totally surprised. I need my music and moments sometimes." Hailey chuckles in response, with a nod of the head. She could easily accept, as it was the same as her trips to the shooting range to let off steam sometimes. 

"I may let you join me on a trip to the shooting range. Perhaps I could teach you how to shoot a gu-"

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I'm like the accident prone, awkward guy. My luck I'd be like the kid in Christmas story and shoot my eye out. That, or shoot myself in the foot and I don't think I want to calling Rick to say that I have to miss a race because I did either of those." She couldn't help but laugh at his response, though could almost see either of those happening from what she had learned about him while they had been together. "There's people that wonder how I've made it this far in my life. I can't cook, hence why I had a meal prep plan before I met you. I make very irresponsible decisions in continuing to buy fast toys. Do I need to go on?" 

"I guess it's lucky that you have me in your life now to take care of you...." She then reaches out for his hand, clasping it with her own. "And Alex, I plan on doing that for a long time."