Free The Fireman Who Loved Me by Jennifer Bernard Page A

“Respect Mother Earth.” “Promote Whirled Peas.” Melissa thought she looked like an elderly bomb-throwing revolutionary. Or at least a troublemaker.
    “You look shocking, Grans.”
    “Thank you.”
    “We’d better go. We have to make a stop on the way.”
    “Stop? Where?”
    Melissa had deliberately left this until the last moment. “We have to pick up Ella Joy.”
    “What? That tramp is coming? Who invited her?”
    “I did. And please don’t call the anchor of the Sunny Side of the News a tramp.”
    “More like the Slutty Side, with that one.”
    “Language, Grans!” Did everyone’s grandmother’s talk like this?
    “Melissa, you don’t have the sense God gave a peanut. You want to lose Brody to her?”
    “Oh, come on, he’s going to ignore both of us and make a beeline toward you!” Melissa gave her grandmother a little hug and shuffled her out the door.
    But Nelly would not be distracted. “It’s not that you aren’t a hundred times prettier than Miss Fancy Schmancy, but she’s got that killer instinct. If she sees a man interested in you, she’ll go for his jugular. Remember Alice May? How she nearly stole Leon out from under my nose?”
    “A, he’s not interested in me. And B, Ella’s not some jungle cat. There will be plenty of men to go around. Maybe Ryan will be there.”
    Nelly brightened. “That’s right! Whichever one Ella likes, you go for the other one.”
    Melissa pretended to consider that approach as she helped her grandmother into the car. “I suppose I could, but that would interfere with my plan to eat dinner and mind my own business.” She closed the car door before Nelly could answer, and took her time walking to the driver’s side. Once inside, she added, “And be nice to Ella. Don’t forget she’s worth two ratings points, and two ratings points could get me fired.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. That place would fall apart without you.” The rest of the drive was taken up with a litany of complaints about how little Channel Six appreciated her Melissa, and it was only when Ella Joy slid in the backseat that Nelly was finally rendered speechless. And no wonder.
    Ella was dressed in a red vinyl pantsuit the exact color of a fire engine. It looked like a slick, shiny coat of all-body nail polish. Dazed, Melissa wondered if Ella had already had such an item in her closet, or if she had bought it just for this occasion. Either option seemed absurd. Ella’s honey locks were curled and piled on her head, and her smoky eye shadow made her eyes look huge and luminescent. Melissa shifted uncomfortably in her sweater, which in the last two seconds had gone from slinky to deadly dull.
    Maybe Grans had been right, after all. If she wanted any chance with Brody, she should never have invited Ella. Not that she was after Brody, not at all. They had nothing in common. Except that she couldn’t get that crazy kissing incident out of her mind.
    It didn’t matter. What chance did regular mortals have next to someone like Ella? She’d have to be content with her original plan. Eat her dinner and mind her own business. The only entertainment would be watching the firemen fall over themselves bowing down to the goddess of Channel Six news.
    S an Gabriel Fire Station 1 was a square, concrete building smack in the middle of town. Melissa had seen it in news reports, but since she wasn’t on the daily news beat herself, she had never actually been there. The firefighters kept it immaculate and had even planted geraniums in planters out front. A fresh-faced young fireman, who looked about twelve, was busy watering the flowers, and at the sight of Ella exiting the car he dropped the hose. It went snaking across the driveway, spewing a rooster tail of water in front of them. Ella gave a little shriek, and jumped behind Nelly.
    Melissa bent down and picked up the hose. She handed it back to the firefighter, but he didn’t budge. He stood, openmouthed, as the water streamed onto the