A/N: This is my entry for Durotos' Short and Sweet Prompt in the Village Square forum.

Valentine's Day was the last thing on Mary Boatwright's mind.

She sat in the living room, reading a nice, old book that was sent to the library. The story of two kids befriending a boy with wings and going on adventures. A nice little tale, devoid of messy romance or bloody violence. Romance novels were nice, but many of the ones she read were often very formulaic. Girl meets guy. They fall in love. Stuff happens. Some mean girl hates other girl and plans to ruin her life to get the guy. More stuff happens. Guy loses girl or girl loses guy or they end up together. It was always the same.

Even books focused on Valentine's Day had this problem. Then again, Mary hadn't had the best of experiences with Valentine's Day. She gave a nice card to a boy in middle school once, and he liked it. But one of his friends, another girl, told her to stay away from him. "Do you honestly think he'd go out with a frumpy, uncool, desperate nerd like you?"

That was all it took for young Mary's heart to be torn to shreds, and she never pursued him after that. Mostly to keep the peace and so she wouldn't have a giant flashing target on her head. Kids could be cruel, especially over trivial things that ultimately didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. For Mary, Valentine's Day was just another day.

It didn't take long for Mary to reach the end of the chapter, so she slipped the bookmark inside and closed her book shut. It was about time she got the mail anyway. But when she opened the door to walk outside, she saw something gray and blue flit away from the end of the sidewalk. Mary leaned out to get a closer look, but she saw nothing. What was that?

Probably nothing, she told herself. Maybe someone was running late for work. She opened the mailbox and saw that it was empty, save for one white envelope. A tiny one, too. She took it into her hands and peeled it open. The adhesive hadn't quite been pressed down hard enough, so it was easy for her to open it without difficulty. Inside the envelope was what appeared to be a small card. The front of it was deep red, like a ripe cherry, with a big pink heart in the middle of it. Mary's eyes widened. A Valentine's Day card? Or was this a prank?

"I'll just check and see," Mary muttered to himself. "It wouldn't hurt to look." She opened the card. The message inside was all written in black ink, probably from a pen.

Mary Boatwright,

Happy Valentine's Day. I would have liked to tell you this face-to-face, but you know how flustered I get. Anyway, I made something for you as well. I figured something you could actually use would be better than something that'll just go away in the next day or two, like a box of chocolates. I hope you like it.

Love,

Gustavo "Gray" Donaghue

Something warm sprung up from inside Mary. A warm feeling that she never thought she'd ever be able to experience. She had always been told by classmates that she was too frumpy, too nerdy, too uncool, too much of a loser to ever be able to find a prince charming and get married to a nice guy. But this proved that they were all wrong. Mary smiled at the card. Indeed, someone did like her.

That was when she noticed something inside the card. It was a small, silver necklace, rounded into a circle, and embedded in the very middle of it was a purple amethyst, carved into a circular shape. It was so tiny, and the thin chain fell in between her fingers, like sand was running through them. She turned the necklace around, glancing at the back of it. Her dark eyes caught something on it. Upon closer inspection, they were initials.

M. G. B.

Mary Grace Boatwright. Her full name.

She looked to her left, towards the Mayor's house. She saw someone wearing a blue hat and a light gray janitor's uniform behind the wall. She could tell he was hiding, but she could still see him. Still, she flashed a warm, content smile.

"Thank you, Gray. I love it."

The flash of gray disappeared. No matter. Mary closed her eyes and went right back into her house, feeling light as a feather. She couldn't wait to try on her new necklace, and amethyst was one of her favorite stones. Maybe it'd go great with that purple dress she bought the other day. But for now, she was just grateful for Gray's kindness. He was making progress.

Note: The book that Mary is reading is called The Wind Boy by Ethel Cook Eliot.