Gas station serves up sweets, tea, mittens and love

For 20 years, hospice nurse Carrie Farella would stop into her local Shell station for gas - and coffee, little boxes of those Hostess chocolate Donettes, milk, newspapers, kitty litter, mittens, sandwiches and, in recent years, a relaxing cup of tea.

"You could easily make your own tea at home, but I come in for the chitchat," says the Hawthorn Woods divorced mom of three daughters. "You have a bad day, you come in here. It's a real social place in the morning. It's a place where everyone knows your name."

Station owner Laith Alani, who has spent the last 27 years at this Mundelein gas station started by his father at the corner of Midlothian and Gilmer roads, makes sure of that.

"I know most of my customers," says Laith, who sticks the business cards of regular customers under the glass on his counter. "I ask them what their name is. It's good business. People feel welcome when you know their name. It's a very social place. The guys who come in for coffee in the morning stay an hour-and-a-half."

Carrie feels more than welcome.

"We have been friends for so long," she says.

During the two decades they have known each other, they'd reveal little snippets of their lives.

"Sometimes it was just a 'Hey, take care,'" Carrie notes. "Other times, we tried to help each other out."

Before Laith's divorce six years ago, Carrie gave him the name of a marriage counselor whom she and her husband were seeing. After Carrie separated from her husband three years ago, Laith hooked her up with a Realtor, loan company, fix-it specialist and painter.

Carrie and Laith would sit under the fluorescent lights of the bustling gas station and sip their teas.

"We'd flirt a little bit," Laith admits.

"I'm serving beer at the Octoberfest. Why don't you come by?" Laith asked Carrie one day in 2006.

"Maybe I will," Carrie said.

That night, as she sat at home, fretting about what to do, her oldest daughter piped up.

"Oh, just go," she told her mom. "You're not going to marry him."

That first meeting away from the station led to a regular tea time at the station. Carrie and Laith would meet at the Shell for hot tea with cream as they started their days.

Sharing their love of music, Laith, now 50, told her about his days as a guitar player. While he played lots of festivals with legendary local rock band, The Shadows of Knight, a young Laith can still be found with big hair and tight pants on YouTube playing heavy metal riffs with his band Orphan Allies (they were big in France) during the early 1980s.

"I remember sneaking into the Thirsty Whale on River Road (I was under 21) and remember him in leather pants shredding guitar on stage," recalls Carrie, who is now 47. "But I never knew his name."

The station's deli manager, Melissa Karnuth, saw what was happening between her boss and her customer.

"I thought it was great. They just clicked," Melissa says. "I could tell they were pleased with each other's company."

More than pleased.

"Our love grew along with the gas prices," Carrie says.

"They were excited like kids again - which made my life easier," Melissa says with a laugh. "They are the most giving people I've ever met. They deserve to be together."

On Valentine's Day they will be married by the chaplain from the hospice where Carrie works as a pediatric nurse.

"It's just weird the way it turned out. She's a great gal," Laith says of his longtime customer and soon-to-be bride.

"I had a feeling he was a really good guy," Carrie says of the friendly face who will complete her "love at the gas pumps" romantic story. "Twenty years, tons of Hostess products and too much fuel to count - we're lucky to have a second chance at love."

Oh, and one other thing has changed, too.

"I just give him my keys and the car on empty," Carrie says, "and it comes back full."