Ginger loved Valentine's Day. She loved the little candy hearts with words printed on them, the red construction paper, the lace doilies, and the tiny envelopes that were just the right size for a secret message. Most of all, she loved the little decorated box on her desk at school, waiting to be filled with valentines from her classmates.

That year, her teacher had asked everyone to bring a valentine for each child in the class. Ginger had spent an entire afternoon at the kitchen table preparing hers. She carefully printed each name, tucked the cards into their envelopes, and added a little red heart beside every signature. She even made one for her teacher, with a crooked paper flower glued to the front.

But there was one valentine she was especially excited about receiving. It would come from a boy named Tommy, who sat two desks away and sometimes shared his crayons with her. He had told her the week before that he was making a special valentine, and although he hadn't said it was for her, Ginger had been quite certain it was.

On Valentine's morning, Ginger wore her favorite red sweater. She carried her valentines to school in a paper bag, being careful not to bend the corners. The classroom was decorated with pink and red streamers, and a large paper heart hung from the ceiling. Everyone was excited, whispering and giggling as they slipped envelopes into one another's boxes.

When the teacher finally announced that they could open their valentines, the room filled with the sound of tearing paper and delighted squeals. Ginger emptied her box onto her desk. There were valentines with puppies, kittens, smiling flowers, and silly little sayings. One had a train on it that said, I Choo-Choo-Choose You! Another had a picture of a bee and said, Bee Mine!

Ginger read every one, carefully setting them in a little pile. Then she counted them. She had a valentine from nearly everyone, but there was nothing from Tommy. She checked the box again, tipping it upside down and peering into the corners. Perhaps his card had gotten stuck. Perhaps he had forgotten to put it in.

Across the room, Tommy was laughing with two other boys. Ginger watched him reach into his desk and pull out a large red envelope. It had a shiny silver heart on the front. He carried it across the room and handed it to a girl named Susan.
Susan opened it and smiled.

Ginger looked down at her own pile of valentines. She picked up the one with the little bee and read it again, although she already knew what it said.

For the rest of the afternoon, she was quieter than usual. She ate her cupcake, drank her little carton of milk, and helped clean up the scraps of paper scattered across the classroom floor. When the final bell rang, she carefully placed her valentines back in their box and carried them home.

Her mother was in the kitchen when she arrived. "Did you have a nice Valentine's Day?"
Ginger nodded and set the box on the table.
"Did you get lots of valentines?"
"Yes."

Her mother smiled. "Well, let's see them."
Ginger opened the box and spread the little cards across the table. Her mother admired the puppies and kittens, laughed at the silly sayings, and told Ginger how pretty they were. But Ginger wasn't particularly interested in showing them off. She kept looking at the empty space inside the box where she had imagined Tommy's special valentine would be.
"Did somebody forget you?" her mother asked.
Ginger shrugged. "Not everybody."

Her mother waited, but Ginger didn't say anything more. She gathered the cards together and carried them to her bedroom, where she arranged them along the windowsill. There were so many cheerful little hearts and smiling animals that the whole window looked festive.

But Ginger left a space in the middle.
She didn't quite know why.
The next morning, she found Tommy waiting near the classroom door. He had a new box of crayons and was showing another boy the silver one. Ginger walked past him without saying hello.
"Hey, Ginger," he called. "Want to see my new crayons?"
"No, thank you."

Tommy looked surprised, but Ginger kept walking. She wasn't angry with him exactly. She just didn't feel like sharing crayons with someone who had given his special valentine to somebody else.

For several days, she left the space on her windowsill. She told herself that perhaps Tommy had made two special valentines and had forgotten to bring hers. Perhaps it was still in his desk. Perhaps he would remember and give it to her when nobody was looking.

But he never did.

Eventually, the paper hearts came down from the classroom walls, the candy disappeared, and everyone stopped talking about Valentine's Day. Tommy went back to being Tommy, sometimes sharing his crayons and sometimes being annoying. Ginger went back to playing with her friends and drawing pictures of horses in the margins of her schoolwork.

One afternoon, while tidying her bedroom, Ginger noticed the little row of valentines on her windowsill. Their corners had begun to curl in the sunlight, and one of the kittens had fallen over. She gathered them into a neat stack, straightened the bent corners, and placed them in her special keepsake box.

She hesitated over the empty space where Tommy's valentine had never been.
Then she closed the lid.
She didn't throw the other valentines away, and she didn't decide that Tommy was a terrible boy. She simply understood that the special valentine she had imagined was never going to arrive.

Still, for a little while, whenever she saw a red paper heart, she remembered the silver one he had given Susan.
And she wished, just once, that it had been hers.