Free Guardian of the Fountain by Jennifer Bryce Page A

has a single brother for me.” Marla wiggled her brows
in insinuation.
           “That good,
huh? He must be fabulous if you want to date his brother.”
           “Yep, that
good. First of all, he’s very wealthy. He sells exotic flowers and other plants
all over the world. Second, he’s in his early thirties and single, as far as we
know. Third, he lives up on the mountain somewhere. No one in the village knows
where.”
           “So, he’s handsome,
rich, single, and mysterious. What’s the downside?”
           “None yet.
I couldn’t dig anything up. Everyone here respects him. He sort of takes care
of the villagers, but my source wouldn’t expound. My Chatty Kathy suddenly got not-so-chatty
at that point. ” Marla pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
           Chrissie
yanked it out of her mouth and ground it into the dirt with her tennis shoe.
           “Hey!”
Marla yelled. “Stop destroying all my cigarettes. Last week, you cut a whole
pack in half.”
           “You should’ve
learned by now not to smoke around me. As nurses, we know better than to smoke.
Besides, Daddy says it’ll make your butt wrinkly and fall off.”
           “And you
believed him?”
           “Are you
going to find out if it’s true or not? It’s a nasty habit, being a smoke stack.
Did you listen at all in all those nursing classes?”
           “All right,
all right, I won’t smoke,” Marla handed the rest of her pack over to Chrissie.
“Just make sure you find the rest of those ciggies a nice home.” She looked
longingly at the pack. “I think I might be grouchy today.”
           “Nonsense.
You’ll be as happy as you want to be. Besides, I thought you didn’t feel the
urge to smoke anymore.”
           “I don’t.
But they’re so expensive, and I brought a month’s worth.”
           “So you’re
going to smoke them all in a week? You told me last night you’d smoked your
last cigarette.”
           “Actually,
it’s more of a habit to smoke than an addiction. But I got to thinking today
that if I didn’t smoke, I wouldn’t get as many breaks.” Marla folded her arms
unhappily. “Okay, Miss Sunshine.   You’re
always bubbly and happy. What do you smoke?”
           “Rainbows I
buy off the street from a leprechaun.”
           “Ah, stop
it.” The corner of Marla’s mouth twitched into a smile.
           As Marla
and Chrissie neared the front entrance of the clinic, they saw Brant exiting
the clinic with a curvy exotic beauty. Marla stepped around the side of the
building to spy, pulling Chrissie in tight behind her.
           “Hey! What
are you doing?” Chrissie yelled.
           “Shush! We’re
spying on Brant.” Marla peeked around the corner as Chrissie looked over her
shoulder.
           Brant
followed the lovely dark woman to a new red Ferrari. He opened her door for her
on the driver’s side. They looked like they were angry at each other and might
fight.
           “I can’t
hear what they’re saying,” Chrissie said.
           “Me
neither.” Marla frowned. “But it doesn’t look good for the two little love
birds. Maybe he wasn’t so single.”
           The woman
got into her car and peeled out of the parking lot, spraying loose gravel all
around. Brant stomped off and got into a big truck, leaving much more calmly
than the woman.
           “I wonder
what that was about.” Chrissie stepped out from behind the corner and resumed
her walk to the clinic.
           “I wish I
had super-human hearing,” Marla picked up her step to keep up with Chrissie.
           “That was
pretty good entertainment for a few moments. Now back to work.” Chrissie
shrugged.   “He probably did me a
favor, being seen with an attractive woman like that. It stopped me before I
got too curious about him. The last thing I want is another Trey experience and
to be