Sophie? Joshua's first love, Sophie Walker?

Hearing her name hit me hard, but I couldn't afford to get into it with him at that moment.

"Wait. Margaret—" I began, but the line went dead.

I was heartsick over Margaret and infuriated by Joshua's attitude.

Mrs. Zeller saw how upset I was and came over, asking, "What's going on? Is Joshua dealing with something? Did he get another fire call? Otherwise… how could he ignore his mom?"

Exactly! His mother's life was at risk!

I clenched my jaw and kept calling him. Finally, he answered again. I didn't let him say a word.

"Margaret's apartment is on fire, Joshua! Get back here, now!" I blurted out.

But instead, a soft, weak voice came through, "Rue, I get that you're upset about Joshua helping me, but you can't go around wishing harm on Mrs. Scott like that. He'll check on her once he's done with my pipes."

I was so mad that I shouted into the phone, "Sophie Walker, why the hell would I joke about something like this? Put Joshua on!"

A second later, I heard Joshua's voice. "She's on speaker—I've been hearing everything. Are you done, Ruby? You're actually wishing harm on my mom just to get me to come home? She's always been nothing but good to you. You're insane!

"Sophie, just ignore her."

Then, he hung up on me again.

It was the middle of summer, but it felt like someone had just drenched me with ice-cold water.

Ever since Sophie came back, I had had this nagging feeling that Joshua might leave me for her someday. But I never expected it to turn out this way, of all times.

Sophie was Joshua's first love. They started dating in college and kept it going while they got into their careers, but eventually, life's stress took its toll, and things fell apart.

By the time Joshua and I got together, I already knew about their long relationship that fizzled out. He'd promised me he wasn't the type to stay hung up on an ex.

But, like they said, promises were only as good as the person making them.

Once Sophie returned to our town after her divorce, Joshua somehow forgot all his vows. He often claimed he was busy with work but ran off to help Sophie instead.

His feelings were clearly drifting away from me, but he wouldn't own up to it. He kept insisting they were just old friends and that he was simply doing her favors because of their past.

He acted so righteous about it that I—his wife—was left looking like the unreasonable one.

I clenched my fists, watching the scene at the building with worry. The wind was picking up fast, and without the fire department here, the fire just kept getting worse.

Margaret was getting up there in age, and even if she wasn't getting burned, all that smoke could seriously harm her lungs.

I started pacing back and forth, waiting another ten minutes, but there was still no sign of a fire truck. Even the neighbors were starting to get that something wasn't right.

"The fire's huge by now. Why hasn't anyone from the fire department shown up yet? We gave them the right address, didn't we?"

"Oh, gosh, this is ridiculous! What's going to happen to Margaret?"

I was on edge, and this weird, unsettling feeling just wouldn't leave me. I pulled out my phone and called the fire department again.

This time, a different dispatcher answered. It wasn't the lady from before, but someone whose voice I actually knew.

"Ruby, is that you for real?"

The second I heard his voice, I knew it was Louis Foster—Joshua's coworker and best friend from the fire department.

I tried to steady my shaky voice and said, "The 17th floor of Apartment 1, Building 3 at Rosewood Apartments is on fire. Can you send someone immediately?"

But Louis laughed on the other end of the line.

"Ruby, you're looking for Josh, right?" Louis asked. "This address is actually Mrs. Scott's place. I asked him about it, and he said she knows about the fire hazards, so there's no need to worry.

"Let me guess. You two had a fight, so you called in a false alarm, right? Look, Ruby. I'm not trying to lecture you, but sometimes, guys just need space.

"Don't be too controlling. Even if Josh did something wrong, wishing anything bad on Mrs. Scott isn't right—"

I took a deep breath and interrupted his endless rant, "I don't care where Joshua is right now! I need the rest of your team here immediately to put out the fire! Margaret's life is at risk, Louis! This isn't a joke!"

I'd always been nice to these people because of Joshua and had never raised my voice at them.

Louis was shocked by my outburst and started to panic. "Come on, Ruby. You're just calling to find Josh, aren't you?"

"I don't give a damn about Joshua right now! Get over here fast, or Margaret won't make it!"

I heard him rushing to get his team together and finally let out a sigh of relief.

After hanging up, I realized my back was drenched in sweat. I never thought Joshua could be this cold.

His teammates probably knew the address was Margaret's, so they must've reached out to him. But Joshua just told them to stand down without even looking into it.

Did he seriously not care if something happened to Margaret? She was the one who raised him on her own.

Joshua's father, Bernard Scott, was a firefighter, too. He died in his early 30s in a big fire.

Margaret was devastated, but somehow, she found the strength to push through. She opened a small shop and worked day and night to raise Joshua.

Joshua once told me that Margaret was the most important person in the world to him. We weren't dating yet at the time, and I couldn't help but wonder if he was a bit of a "mama's boy".

But once I got to know Margaret, I realized she was the kind of woman everyone would adore. She treated me like her own daughter and never stuck her nose in Joshua's and my business.

Even though Joshua and I had been married for five years and didn't have kids, she never pressured us. Instead, she always told me to relax and let things happen.

Whenever Joshua upset me, Margaret would give him a lecture for me. She cared about me a lot, and of course, I cared about her just as much.

Before things went south between Joshua and me, he used to hold me and say, "Rue, having you and my mom in my life is the best thing that's ever happened to me."

I just couldn't understand how his first love, Sophie, had such a hold on him that he'd ditch his family and even put Margaret's life at risk.

I was still trying to make sense of it when Mrs. Zeller suddenly yelled, "Hey! Look! She's coming out! What's she doing out there?"

I immediately looked up, and what I saw nearly made my heart stop. Margaret must've gotten overwhelmed by the smoke and climbed over the balcony.

Luckily, there was a narrow ledge outside, which was about four inches wide. Somehow, she managed to stand on it, but being 17 stories up, one wrong step could send her falling to her death.

My hands were soaked in sweat.

Suddenly, I got a message on my phone. I checked it, and to my surprise, it was from Margaret.

"It's been forever, Rue, and I still haven't heard any fire trucks. I don't think I can hang on much longer. The pain from the burns is unbearable. I can't even imagine what Bernard went through.

"You've been visiting me all this time, but that useless son of mine, Joshua, barely even stops by. I knew something was going on between you two.

"I actually looked into it. His first love returned, right? You never really talk to me about your problems, sweetheart. If I'd known earlier, I would've taken care of that jerk for you. I felt so bad for you, Rue.

"The fire truck still hasn't arrived, and I'm pretty sure Joshua's behind it. I never thought I'd spend my whole life struggling to survive, only to end up dying because of the son I raised for over 30 years.

"I've saved up some money for you in the bank. The PIN is your birthday. I'm all for you getting a divorce from him. When I'm gone, just bury me next to Bernard.

"Don't bother inviting Joshua to the funeral. I don't want him anywhere near it. Our bond just wasn't meant to last in this life, Rue. It'd be great to see you again if there's life after this."

My eyes went wide as I watched that frail figure leap from the 17th floor.

"Margaret!" I screamed in pain.

At the same time, I could hear the familiar wail of fire sirens.