IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers LOVEBIRDS—Susan and Scott Price of Simi Valley share a laugh together outside their home on Monday. The couple, who first met on a blind date, have found ways to keep the romance alive since they were married four years ago. He thought she was a telemarketer. Really, she just wanted a date.

And so goes the love story of Scott and Susan Price. While the Simi sweethearts have been married now three and a half years, their romance almost didn't get off the ground.

It all started in 2001, when a mutual friend and a colleague of Scott's at the Ventura County Fire Department tried to set the two up on a date.

At the time, Scott was seeing someone else and Susan was divorced with a 4yearold. While the shared acquaintance continued to talk to Scott and Susan about one another, the pair didn't get together until about two years later.

Flash forward to 2003: Susan has drummed up enough confidence to give Scott a call. Trouble is, their mutual friend forgot to tell Scott to expect it.

A CHILD'S LOVE— Susan and Scott Price's infant son, Cristian, holds a photo of his parents at their Simi Valley home on Monday morning. Cristian loves pictures and often takes them off the shelves to look at and kiss the glass. The Prices also have a 12-year-old son, Corey, who attends Grace Brethren Elementary School. IRIS SMOOT Acorn Newspapers "Out of the blue, Sue calls me up," the 38-year-old firefighter remembered. "I hadn't heard the name Sue in months; I wasn't expecting anyone to call me and . . . I think she's a telemarketer."

Despite the rocky start, that initial conversation lasted two hours and led to a blind date at El Torito.

Their first dinner went so well Scott canceled another date he had already lined up to instead take Susan to a game at Dodger Stadium.

The third date, however, did not go as well. In fact, Scott stood Susan up. But the 17-year firefighter had a good excuse.

"We were supposed to go to dinner one night, and so I got a sitter for my older son; I was all excited," said Susan, 40. "And then he had to go out on a fire so we didn't get to go."

Scott, who runs heavy equipment for Station 45 on Pacific Avenue, had been called away in the middle of the night to help fight a fire in San Diego.

"Yeah, she's been stood up quite a bit the past few years," he said, adding that he always makes up for it with flowers.

Luckily, the missed concerts, comedy shows and candlelit dinners did not derail the relationship, and on June 25, 2005, Scott and Susan tied the knot in a walnut grove at Tierra Rejada Ranch in Moorpark.

Since then, Susan has gotten used to the unpredictable nature of her husband's job.

And even though Scott works four 10-hour shifts a week at the station, he still finds time to pamper Susan.

So much so, the stay-at-home mother of two—Corey, 12, and Cristian, 1—wrote to the Acorn a Valentine's Day tribute to her spouse, saying in the e-mail that she is "treated like a queen."

"He just always does little nice stuff. Like, if it's cold outside, he'll go warm up my car before I leave," she said. "He spoils the kids. I get flowers all the time. . . . If I'm stressed out he'll finish up the dishes, draw me a bath, take care of the kids."

Scott was embarrassed to hear his wife call attention to his chivalrous acts, saying that the guys at the station would give him a hard time if they heard about his softer side.

Still, Susan said that it is these small gestures that help keep a marriage strong.

"I think it's doing the little things, all the nice things, not taking each other for granted," Susan said. "I try to put little notes in his lunch once a week, just want him to have a good day."

Scott said it is also about compromise.

"We don't ever fight. I don't think we've ever had one heated argument," he said.

Since they have a preteen and a toddler at home, the even-keel couple have recruited Scott's mother to babysit so the lovebirds can sneak off for a romantic Valentine's Day date.

Fittingly, Scott is taking Susan to Engine Co. No. 28 in downtown Los Angeles, a restored 1912 fire station serving dishes inspired by firehouse cooking, before heading over to the Pantages Theater to see "The Phantom of the Opera."

With the weather forecast predicting a rainy Valentine's Day, Scott should have no problem keeping his date.