The Trouble with Crushes: A Romance (Bank Street Stories Book 2)

  The

  Trouble

  with

  Crushes

  By:

  Brooke St. James

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author.

  Copyright © 2020

  Brooke St. James

  All rights reserved.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Other titles available from Brooke St. James:

  Another Shot:

  (A Modern-Day Ruth and Boaz Story)

  When Lightning Strikes

  Something of a Storm (All in Good Time #1)

  Someone Someday (All in Good Time #2)

  Finally My Forever (Meant for Me #1)

  Finally My Heart's Desire (Meant for Me #2)

  Finally My Happy Ending (Meant for Me #3)

  Shot by Cupid's Arrow

  Dreams of Us

  Meet Me in Myrtle Beach (Hunt Family #1)

  Kiss Me in Carolina (Hunt Family #2)

  California's Calling (Hunt Family #3)

  Back to the Beach (Hunt Family #4)

  It's About Time (Hunt Family #5)

  Loved Bayou (Martin Family #1)

  Dear California (Martin Family #2)

  My One Regret (Martin Family #3)

  Broken and Beautiful (Martin Family #4)

  Back to the Bayou (Martin Family #5)

  Almost Christmas

  JFK to Dublin (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #1)

  Not Your Average Joe (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #2)

  So Much for Boundaries (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #3)

  Suddenly Starstruck (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #4)

  Love Stung (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #5)

  My American Angel (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #6)

  Summer of '65 (Bishop Family #1)

  Jesse's Girl (Bishop Family #2)

  Maybe Memphis (Bishop Family #3)

  So Happy Together (Bishop Family #4)

  My Little Gypsy (Bishop Family #5)

  Malibu by Moonlight (Bishop Family #6)

  The Harder They Fall (Bishop Family #7)

  Come Friday (Bishop Family #8)

  Something Lovely (Bishop Family #9)

  So This is Love (Miami Stories #1)

  All In (Miami Stories #2)

  Something Precious (Miami Stories #3)

  The Suite Life (The Family Stone #1)

  Feels Like Forever (The Family Stone #2)

  Treat You Better (The Family Stone #3)

  The Sweetheart of Summer Street (The Family Stone #4)

  Out of Nowhere (The Family Stone #5)

  Delicate Balance (The Blair Brothers #1)

  Cherished (The Blair Brothers #2)

  The Whole Story (The Blair Brothers #3)

  Dream Chaser (Blair Brothers #4)

  Kiss & Tell (Novella) (Tanner Family #0)

  Mischief & Mayhem (Tanner Family #1)

  Reckless & Wild (Tanner Family #2)

  Heart & Soul (Tanner Family #3)

  Me & Mister Everything (Tanner Family #4)

  Through & Through (Tanner Family #5)

  Lost & Found (Tanner Family #6)

  Sparks & Embers (Tanner Family #7)

  Young & Wild (Tanner Family #8)

  Easy Does It (Bank Street Stories #1)

  The Trouble with Crushes (Bank Street Stories #2)

  Chapter 1

  Galveston Island, Texas

  August, 1972

  My sister, Tess, had been living in Galveston for the last four years, and in that time, I had lived there twice and visited a lot. It was a lovely island community on the Gulf shore of Texas. It was only a few hours from the small town in Louisiana where we grew up.

  I lived with her during the summer of '68 when she first moved there. And then two years later, after I finished college, I moved to Galveston again and stayed for a year. This time, I was with my boyfriend, Albert.

  That hadn't ended well. I left Galveston after we broke up, which was a little over a year ago. Since then, I had been back at home in Starks where I worked as a teacher.

  I was just about to go into my second year of teaching first grade. It was late August, and we were about to start back to school.

  I was currently in Galveston, though. I had been there for over a week. I didn't want to leave, so I was pushing it on getting back to Starks. I had a teachers' meeting tomorrow morning, so I had no choice but to head back home tonight. I needed to go back, anyway, so that I could prepare for the school year and get my lesson plans ready.

  I would leave Galveston tonight, but I was extremely reluctant about it. Not only was I in love with this city, but my big sister, Tess, was about to have a baby any day. That was why I had pushed back my trip as much as possible. Tess and Billy were having a baby, and it was due four days ago.

  I had come to town to throw her a baby shower, which happened last weekend. I planned on her having the baby on time or a little early, but it turned out that due dates were just a guess, and there we were with me pushing it till the last minute to get back for school.

  I had really hoped to be there when my niece or nephew was born. That's not to say that I couldn't still make that happen once I went back home. I knew I would leave at the drop of a hat and drive back to Galveston once he or she was born. That was what my parents were planning on doing. But I had my head wrapped around meeting the munchkin while I was there for the week, and it felt weird going home before it happened.

  At the moment, I was sitting at a table at Carson's Diner with my very pregnant sister. This restaurant was at the end of a city block that felt like home to me—Bank Street between 23rd and 24th. The apartment Tess and I rented was on the corner of 23rd and Bank, and the diner was across Bank and on the corner of 24th. In between those places were familiar businesses and buildings, including the hardware store and Bank Street Boxing.

  Tess and Billy had gotten married and stayed in that apartment for a few years after I moved out. They had only recently moved into their own home which was still on Bank Street but five blocks down, on the corner of 17th.

  They still came down to this part of Bank Street all the time after they moved, though. Billy was a professional boxer who trained in the building next door to the diner and across the street from the hardware store where Tess used to work.

  Billy was a champion boxer with multiple titles, so he was at the gym full-time, and Tess went to see him there a few times throughout any given week. She continued to come even after she got pregnant and quit working at the hardware store.

  We knew all of the business owners and neighbors, so even though they had moved out of the apartment, this block was still home to Tess and Billy. It felt a bit like home to me, too, though I technically hadn't lived there since the summer of '68.

  I took comfort in all of the familiar sights and sounds of the diner on the corner. It was predictably busy in there, and today's lunch crowd was no different than usual. The diner was mo
re than half-full with only a few open tables or booths. My order was predictable also—a club sandwich with potato chips. Betty was still working there as a waitress and she knew I liked extra bacon instead of ham. They always made it right at Carson's. We had already ordered, but the food hadn't arrived at our table yet. Somebody had put money in the jukebox, and a song by Elvis was playing in the background.

  "There's Ms. Nancy," Tess said, looking over my shoulder toward the door. I turned to look that way. "She doesn't see us," Tess added.

  I caught a glimpse of Nancy King coming in the door before I turned back around. I really didn't know her that well. I knew her son, Daniel, really well, but I hadn't spent much time with his mom. She was the type of person who was so predictably happy and put-together that it was intimidating. She was pretty and young-looking for having two grown children. She was married to a successful businessowner with a perfect family—two kids, a boy and a girl. She was one of those people who just managed to do it all. I liked her, don't get me wrong. She had been nothing but nice to me. It's just that I was a little intimidated by her.

  "Daniel just got out of the Army," Tess said.

  I nodded. "I heard Billy talking about it the other day."

  My heart ached when she mentioned Daniel King. He was such a sweet guy who had been thrown into a world of war and violence in Vietnam.

  "What are you thinking about?" Tess asked, seeing me get lost in thought.

  "Daniel," I said. "I hope he's okay. I hope he's not hurt or anything."

  "He did get hurt," Tess said. "That was part of him getting that award."

  "What award?"

  "I don't know. Some big deal. I think it was a Purple Heart or the Medal of Honor. I haven't seen Ms. Nancy in a little while. Billy was telling me about it."

  "I knew he'd be a hero," I said. "I'm so happy he's okay."

  "Then why do you sound so sad about it?" she asked.

  She was right. I did sound sad. "I don't know. I was just thinking, and I feel sad about him. Regret, I guess. I talked to him a lot at first, but I should have been there for him more in the last couple of years. He probably had it hard over there, and I'm sure he needed a lot more support than I gave him. It's just that I had finished college, and I was looking for a job, and I had moved… and… Albert and everything."

  "Was that when you quit talking to Daniel?" Tess asked. "I didn't even know you talked to him for that long."

  I nodded. "Yeah. We kept in touch for two years when he first left."

  "Doing what?" she asked. "Writing letters? Talking on the phone?"

  "Writing letters," I said. "He wrote me twice a week like clockwork, but I missed sometimes. They're real regimented over there. I think he had certain days and times when he sat down and did correspondence."

  "Two letters a week? I had no idea you guys talked that much," Tess said, looking at me like she was genuinely curious. "I thought you were dating someone in Lake Charles before Albert."

  "I was. Daniel and I are just friends. The guys I dated in college didn't even care about Daniel. They didn't even know about him. It was just letters. And it's not like we talked about getting married or me waiting for him or anything."

  "Yeah, but twice a week is a lot. I had no idea. When did you stop?"

  "Two years ago, when I moved into that house with Albert. You know how jealous Albert was. He saw my mail and he didn't want Daniel sending me stuff, even if he was just my friend. He made me tell him to stop writing."

  Betty, our waitress walked up to our table right then. She put our drinks in front of us. She said something about our order being out in just a minute.

  We thanked her, and I smiled, but I was lost in thought, remembering how it had all gone down with me telling Daniel we couldn't correspond anymore. I got a flash of a memory of a phone conversation I had with him. He had called when he got the letter I wrote him. He had asked me to reconsider.

  I sat in the diner and felt pain in my heart as I recalled that conversation. It flashed in my mind. Daniel had been sad about it, and I felt a wave of nausea as I remembered how insensitive I must have been.

  I was in my own world, trying to be the free spirit Albert wanted. He was my Jim Morrison—the crazy, bad boy who I couldn't quite tame.

  When I first met Albert, he had a squirrel for a pet, and I couldn't help but notice the similarities in Albert and that squirrel—attractive but unpredictable.

  He was a hippie, plain and simple—free love and lots of drugs. I had been caught up in something that seemed attractive and worldly at the time, but now seemed regrettable.

  I should have been a better friend to Daniel.

  I should have been there for him.

  I should have asked him how he felt and how he was doing, and instead I just told him about my life and my boyfriends.

  I experienced a rush of emotion, regret mostly. I was embarrassed of myself. I felt my cheeks flame hot when I thought about some of the things we said in those letters.

  I tried to remember if Daniel was in love with me. I didn’t think he was at the time, but I would need to look at the letters again to be sure.

  Maybe he had been.

  My heart raced as I tried to recall.

  "Ms. Nancy's coming," Tess said. She spoke discreetly and smiled as she glanced behind me. I could tell by her tone and expression that she was making eye contact with Nancy King. I could also tell by the way her line of vision changed that Nancy was getting closer to our table.

  I turned to face her just as she walked up. Tess half-stood so she could give Nancy a one-armed hug. I did the same thing after my sister took a turn.

  "Hey, Ms. Nancy," I said.

  "Hey y'all. I'll sit for a second, just to get out of Betty's way." Nancy pulled back a chair and sat down in it. "I won't stay and interrupt your lunch, I just wanted to apologize for not making it to the shower last Saturday."

  "Oh, goodness, that's okay," Tess said. "Billy said you were in Georgia with Daniel. We opened the gift you sent. Thank you so much! It's gorgeous. Right now, it's hard to imagine the baby being old enough to need a high chair, but that will be here before we know it."

  "Honey, you have no idea. You'll be putting a baby in that chair before you can count to ten. When you do, remember this conversation. It'll amaze you how fast it gets here."

  "I know, I'm kind of already seeing that," Tess said. She touched her belly. "It seems like yesterday I was telling Billy we were expecting, and now this."

  "Yeah, and the next thing you know, he'll be a grown man, doing all sorts of things you never dreamed he would do."

  "Yes, wow, Ms. Nancy. I meant to tell you congratulations," Tess said. "Abigail and I were just talking about Daniel. Please tell him congratulations for us."

  Nancy smiled at my sister and then she glanced at me, holding the smile. "I'll tell him," she said with a nod. "It was amazing, seeing him there. It's the highest honor the military gives, and they made a big deal of it. They told his story, and had a whole presentation and everything."

  "Oh, that's wonderful," Tess said.

  Nancy nodded. "Nathaniel and I were so happy."

  (They were talking quickly, talking over each other almost.)

  "You must be so proud."

  "We are."

  "I bet. Wow."

  "So thankful he's safe, too. Back at home."

  "In Galveston?" Tess asked, looking surprised. "Billy said he thought he'd be another year or two."

  "He will," Nancy said. "But he's back from overseas. That's what I meant. He's done serving, and he came back to the States, but the Army loves him. They begged him to stay on, over there at Fort Benning. He's training new recruits. His daddy wants him to take over the store eventually, but he's still young. He signed on for another year with the Army—but at least he'll be closer now. He loves it over in Georgia. I told his dad, I don't know if we'll ever get him home once he starts teaching."

  "Oh, I'm surprised to hear that," Tess said. "Billy said he
was planning on just doing a year or two and then for sure coming home."

  "We'll see," Nancy said with a shrug. "I know he misses us and everything. But they treat him real well over there. They were already talking about trying to keep him on longer."

  She stopped talking when Betty came to the table with our orders.

  Chapter 2

  "Sit with us!" Tess insisted. "I hardly ever get to catch up with you and Mister Nathaniel anymore. I miss you guys."

  Nancy shifted and peered toward the kitchen. "I'm picking up a few hamburgers for the delivery crew," she said. "I suppose I can sit for just a minute, until my order's ready." Nancy sighed as she turned to look at me. "So, what are you doing, Miss Abigail? Did you move back to town?" She was being friendly, but with the way I was overanalyzing my shortcomings with Daniel, I automatically felt defensive and started over-thinking everything she did and said.

  "No ma'am, I'm still back home in Louisiana. I was just here for the shower. I thought I would be here for the baby being born, too, but…" I hesitated comically, and Nancy chuckled accordingly.

  "Are you past your due date now?" she asked, inspecting Tess, who nodded.

  "Four days."

  "Oh, how exciting! Any minute now. I wondered. I thought I would have heard something if you had it."

  "No ma'am. Still waiting."

  "You'll have to let us know when it arrives so we can come by and meet the baby."

  "I will," Tess said.

  "Do you have a feeling about what it'll be?"

  "Billy thinks it's gonna be a girl, but I don't know. I don't have a feeling either way."

  "Billy wants a girl, huh? That's sweet. And you don't even have a guess?"

  "No ma'am. And he'd be happy either way. I think he and Coach Marvin were taking bets up there at the gym—whether it's a girl or boy and how much it'll weigh."

  "How funny," she said. "I think Nathaniel mentioned that. He might have gotten-in on it." Her eyes traveled toward the kitchen and she smiled and nodded at someone who was over there. "Well, look, ladies, I see our boxes at the bar. I'll let you go so you can eat your lunch. It was good seeing you both. Abigail, have a safe trip back home, sweetheart."