Free The Fireman Who Loved Me by Jennifer Bernard Page B

driveway. Finally she stood directly in his line of sight. “Hi,” she said brightly. “We’re here at the invitation of Ryan Blake. This is my grandmother, Nelly McGuire. And this is—”
    “Ella Joy.” He said it in a voice of awe. “We . . . we watch you all the time, you’re the bomb.”
    Ella must have decided that the receiving of adulation was worth getting her strappy sandals wet. She moved from behind Nelly to greet the fireman. “Aren’t you a doll? We do our humble best, and it’s so nice to know it’s appreciated.” Bestowing her hand on the dazzled young man, she nearly bowled him over with a huge smile. Humble best , thought Melissa. Where on earth had she come up with that?
    “And just call me Ella. This is Melissa, my producer.”
    “We’re so . . . honored to have you . . . all of you.” Finally he managed to tear his gaze away from Ella, and remembered his manners. “Mrs. McGuire, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Stud . . . I mean, Fred. Stud’s my nickname. Because I’m not, really. A stud, that is. Not compared to the others. Come on in, and I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew. They’re going to be so stoked!” He dropped the hose again and took Nelly’s arm. “How are you doing, ma’am?”
    “Not very well, young man. Frankly, I could use a glass of water.” Nelly did not look pleased with events thus far.
    “Right away.” He ushered Ella in front of him, with a kind of formal bow that he could have learned in dancing class. Since he seemed oblivious to the abandoned garden hose still pumping out water, Melissa hung back to turn it off. The faucet was behind a camellia bush, which left a streak of dirt on the sleeve of her silver sweater. Yet another sign that she might as well give up hope of the evening being anything other than the Ella show.
    She caught up with the rest of the group as they passed through the garage-type area with four gleaming fire engines of various kinds. Fred was racing through the tour, clearly eager to present his prize guests to the rest of the squad. “That’s Engine 1 and that’s Truck 1. When the engine, truck, and pumper go out together on a call they’re called Task Force 1. Engine 1 takes a four-man crew and carries five hundred gallons. Truck 1’s brand-new, it’s got a state-of-the-art hundred-foot aerial ladder. I can’t go up in it, I’m afraid of heights, but man, you should see the captain. Ryan Blake’s our inside man, plus we have a top man, an AO, Apparatus Operator, and a tillerman, or tiller person I should say, for Truck 1. We have a pumper and an ambulance too. We clean and polish them up every day, we take a lot of pride in our rigs. And our captain’s a stickler. But it pays off, because if you get messy in one area, you might get sloppy in others, and then it’s a safety issue. This station’s a sparkle corps house.”
    He paused proudly.
    “What’s that?” Melissa asked, when it appeared she was the only one paying attention to his spiel.
    “It means every firefighter in California wants to be at this station. Only the best of the best get to come here. We get a lot of action, lot of fires, but we have the best safety record anywhere. And everyone wants to work for our captain. He’s a legend, you know.”
    Melissa, too curious to resist, broke the flow of his commentary. “Do you mean Captain Brody?”
    His face lit up. “Yeah, that’s him, have you heard of him? He’s saved hundreds of lives in his career, that’s why he’s a legend. There’s nobody like him. That’s why everyone wants to transfer in here.”
    “Hundreds of lives,” breathed Ella. “What a hero. We should do a story on him, Melissa.”
    “Oh, he’d never let you. He doesn’t like publicity at all. 60 Minutes wanted him on, and he wouldn’t even talk to them.”
    “I’ll just have to try to persuade him,” cooed Ella in a tone that made Melissa want to wring her neck.
    “Sure, I bet he’d talk to you.