Follow the Stars Home by Luanne Rice

fisherman. He was ruggedly gorgeous, and he had a way of glowering that made Dianne think he was harboring a bad secret. He was full of life, and she could imagine him standing on deck, navigating by the stars. When he took her hand and shook it, she felt the thrill all through her body.
    “Tim McIntosh,” he said. “Pleased to meet you.”
    “Dianne Robbins,” she said, staring at his strong and callused hand. It took a long time for him to let go.
    “How about that boat ride?” he asked.
    “Your brother's waiting for us.”
    “He can come with us,” Tim said.
    “Stop.” She laughed. “We have to take the playhouse over to his office.”
    “An island,” Tim said. “That's where I'll take you on our boat ride. Somewhere in the Bahamas. We'll go bone fishing and sleep on the beach. You like the sound of palm trees rustling in the wind?”
    “I've never heard them.”
    “You will,” Tim McIntosh had said, his blue eyes blazing.
    “No, I-” Dianne began, unable to take her eyes off Tim. He held her hand lightly, as if he had known her for years, as if he planned to walk her straight off into the sunset. She pulled away, convinced him that Alan was waiting, that they should deliver the playhouse to his waiting room as they had promised.
    “Whatever you want,” he said, wrapping his arm around her waist. “You don't love him, do you?”
    “We've gone out only once,” Dianne said, her voice cracking.
    “Good,” Tim said.
    “Why do you say that?” she asked, feeling his hand on the small of her back. Their faces were close, and she knew it was all over. He was a cowboy with a boat, a broken tooth, and a dark secret. Her heart was pounding, and she felt liquid inside. Just looking at him made her smile, made her nervous, made her feel like laughing out loud.
    “Because we're going for a boat ride, and if things work out, I'm going to ask you to marry me,” he said. “What would you say to that?”
    “I'd say you're crazy,” Dianne said as he touched the side of her face with his rough fingertips. But she knew that her time with Alan was over forever.
    The truly crazy thing was, Tim McIntosh proposedto her for real less than a month later. He asked her to marry him on the deck of his boat, with all the new spring constellations overhead.
    “I need you,” he told her.
    “We hardly know each other,” she said.
    “It doesn't feel that way to me,” he said, clutching her. “It feels as if I've known you my whole life. Marry me, Dianne,” he said.
    “Marry you …”
    “You'll never be bored.”
    “Tim!” she laughed, thinking that was a funny thing to say.
    “I'm not like Alan,” he continued. “With him you'd have it easy. Stable as hell.” He made it sound dull. “You'd never have to ask him twice to mow the lawn. Perfect all the time. With me …” He bent her over backward. “You wouldn't have a lawn.”
    “No?” she asked, staring into his eyes.
    “Just this,” he said, sweeping his arm out to take in the sea, the silver-topped waves spreading to the horizon. “That's all I can give you.”
    “Only the sea.” She laughed again.
    “Marry me,” he said again.
    Dianne had a sudden strange feeling that Tim was in competition with his brother and she was the prize. The thing was, she was shy and humble, and she didn't trust her instinct. Alan was a successful doctor, Tim was a handsome fisherman: They could have any woman they wanted. Why would they fight over her?
    Shy girls are sometimes insecure. They don't know how they shine. One date with Alan, and Tim seemed to take it more seriously than she did. If Alan liked her so much, why hadn't he asked her out again? That night at the Rosecroft Inn, she had had such a wonderful time. Alan seemed solid and true, as if he knew exactly where he was going.
    Tim was something else entirely. He trembled when he held her. He said “I need you” at least as often as “I love you.” He told her he kept time by the tides, and she found