Don’t miss Robert Gant starring with Debbie Gibson tonight in ‘Summer of Dreams’ on Hallmark

In tonight’s Summer of Dreams, Debbie Gibson plays fading pop star Debbie Taylor who is on the verge of losing everything – including her freedom – when she runs away to suburban Ohio where she finds her way into teaching music to a talented group of misfit kids. As she lays low and taps into the kids’ talents in an attempt to become relevant again, she begins to realize that fame isn’t everything.

Robert Gant plays a down-to-earth guidance counselor who helps her find new perspective. Their characters meet cute in a grocery store.

This is the first time Gant and Gibson have worked together although they first came face to face at a charity event 10 years ago.

“We had kind of this moment — all of a sudden I walked in and there she was at the little step-and-repeat,” he tells EW. That’s when Gibson, who studied with the same acting coach but didn’t know Gant, “just threw herself into my arms and went into this dip, and I grabbed her and dipped her, and that was how we really officially met.”

A decade later, when Gant got the opportunity to work Gibson on Summer of Dreams, he thought, “This is so perfect.”

Working with Gibson was part of the draw (he’s a longtime fan of her music), and so was impressing his folks. “My parents are absolute, utter fans of Hallmark,” he said, “and for years my mom has been saying to me, ‘Is there some way you can get on one of those movies?’”