He Traded My Forever for a One-Night Crush

The smoke from his cigarette stung my eyes red. "What's that supposed to mean? You're calling that a proposal?"

"Didn't you always want to get married? Grandma's been hoping for it too."

Seventeen years together, and I'd always been so certain that one day Reuben would propose to me.

Maybe there'd be no romance, no flowers, but at least a gentle question,

a solemn moment that belonged to the two of us alone.

Instead he'd thrown it down like a bet on a game, and from start to finish he hadn't glanced at me once, hadn't asked what I wanted.

From the next table came idle chatter. "Team A's always been pretty weak. Didn't expect them to play out of their skin in the first half."

Reuben was a die-hard fan. He knew every team's strength better than anyone.

So when he staked Team A against me, was he betting they couldn't win?

"Go, Team B! Shoot! Goal!"

Fiona had wedged herself between me and Reuben, cheering at the screen. She turned back to remind me.

"Macy, you haven't forgotten our little bet? If Team B comes from behind, you hand Reuben over to me!"

"Not interested." My voice was flat.

She turned around and held out the beer she'd been drinking.

"Macy, don't be so rigid. Nobody likes a woman who's no fun."

I said nothing, and didn't take it.

"Right, Macy only drinks Hennessy. So my beer's beneath you, is that it?"

I looked at her coldly. "Yes. It's beneath me."

Fiona froze for a second, then stamped her foot, all wounded.

Without hesitation Reuben took the bottle from her hand and drank straight from it.

"Tastes good."

I gave a small shudder, something wrenching tight in my chest.

Reuben was a germophobe. He never touched anything someone else had drunk from.

Even when I accidentally drank from his glass, he'd swap it for a new one at once.

The two of them passed the bottle back and forth, finishing most of it between them.

Fiona's cheeks flushed with the drink, and she asked him in a soft, wheedling voice,

"Reuben, that bet I just made with Macy. What do you think of it?"

When Reuben looked at me, something like a struggle flickered in his eyes, then vanished back into his usual calm.

"Fine by me. Then neither of us has to decide. We leave it to the game."

"If we lose, we just weren't meant to be."

The bitter liquor went down.

It struck me then that I'd met Reuben because of a game too.

That year he was ten, and his mother had, for once, taken him to the park.

"Reuben, let's play hide-and-seek. You and your little brother go hide separately, and Mommy will come find you. Whoever stays hidden longest gets ice cream."

Reuben wanted to give the ice cream to his brother, so he hid on purpose in the most obvious spot.

But darkness fell, and his mother never came looking.

In the end, it was me who found Reuben curled up under a big tree, and brought him home.

His stepfather refused to take him back. Reuben had nowhere to go, and that was how Grandma took him in.

I had no parents either. It had always been just me and Grandma, leaning on each other.

We'd gotten by well enough on her pension before.

After Reuben came, Grandma was up before dawn and out till dark, running a market stall and collecting scrap.

Before long, the boy who'd been all skin and bones grew tall and solid.

When it was time for Reuben to start college, Grandma sold the only house she owned back home to scrape together his tuition.

Reuben held the cash, wrapped in an old cloth she'd folded around it, heavy in his hands, and his eyes went red all at once.

"Grandma, how can I ever repay you?"

Grandma smiled at him, tender. "If the day comes when I'm not around anymore, you take good care of Macy for me."

Reuben nodded hard. "Don't you worry. I'll be good to Macy for the rest of my life."