Donika filed out of the event center with the rest of the audience and found her way back to her car. As she turned the key in the ignition, she got a message from Grayson on her phone.

“I want to see you tonight. Are you free?”

“Yep,” she replied.

“I have an exciting date for you.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“It's a surprise. Just wear blue jeans and boots, or a full skirt.”

“A full skirt?” she typed. “I don't own anything like that.”

“You can just improvise. It’s not that big a deal,” he said with a wink emoticon.

She shook her head and put her phone on the passenger seat of the car, not knowing what the heck he meant. Donika pulled out of the parking lot and hurried back home. The other guests had already arrived and were gossiping nonstop about the show.

“Grayson almost lost,” Darcy said.

“I couldn't believe it when his pecans were burned,” Meg said.

“You must have been devastated, Donika,” Martha said.

“It was touch and go there for a minute. I was worried that his dreams would come crashing down around him.”

“You wouldn't want that to happen to your boyfriend,” Grandma Pearl said. “And, by the way, where is my cake?”

“Grayson's been busy, Grandma. He wasn’t expecting to be on the show today.”

“That's not an excuse. If you make a promise to an old lady, you should keep it.”

“He's taking me out for a date tonight. I'll ask him if he can bring you a cake from the shop.”

“That's more like it.”

“I can't believe you still want cakes from that man. After what happened to that raccoon,” Martha said.

“That was a completely unrelated event,” Pearl defended. “Grayson Baxter's cake would not kill anyone. And if it did kill a mangy old raccoon, then I say that’s a plus, not a minus.”

Everyone just shook their head at Grandma Pearl, and Donika had to smile to herself.

“Where is Grayson taking you for your date tonight?” Adele asked.

“He said it was a surprise. But he told me to wear a full skirt of all things.”

“A full skirt?” Adele asked, tapping her finger to her lip. “I know what it is. I bet he's taking you square dancing.”

“Square dancing?” Donika sputtered.

She might have been from a small town, but she'd never done such a thing in her life.

“The square-dancing group meets every Saturday night at the red barn antique shop. Full skirts are traditional square-dancing attire.”

“I did not know that,” Donika said.

“You know what? I have just the fabric for a square-dancing skirt,” her mother said. “We can sew it up and have it ready by tonight.”

“I think I've been doing enough sewing with that quilt that I made,” Donika said.

She had completed her patchwork quilt, and it was now lying across the pullout bed in the craft room. It was pretty warm and cozy if she did say so herself.

“That was just a warm-up,” Adele said. “Come with me. I'll show you the fabric I'm talking about.”

Donika resisted rolling her eyes as she followed her mother down the hall into the residents’ quarters. They slipped into the craft room, and Adele started going through the messy overstuffed shelves. Finally, she found what she was looking for and pulled out a bolt of pink checkered gingham fabric.

“You want me to wear that?” Donika asked, appalled. She was a woman who usually wore black suits with her hair slicked back in a tight bun.

“That's exactly what I'm saying,” Adele said. “You can sew the skirt, and I’ll sew the matching shirt. I don't know if you can get the puffed sleeves right.”

“Puffed sleeves?” Donika gasped.

“You’ll look so perfect for square dancing,” Adele squealed.

Adele showed Donika the pattern she was talking about, and Donika's mouth dropped in shock.

“I wouldn't be caught dead in that getup.”

Her mother slapped her shoulder with the pattern, and she gasped as if in shock.

“What are you talking about? This is perfect!”

“I'm just going to ask him if he's taking me square dancing. I don’t want to go through a bunch of trouble just so you can dress me up like a clown.”

She pulled out her phone and sent him a text.

“Are we going square-dancing by any chance? My mother insists that's where you're taking me.”

“My secret’s out.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“I'll be there to pick you up at six.”

Donika sighed and sat down on the foldout bed.

“He says it’s square dancing.”

“Perfect!” Adele exclaimed, clearing things away from the sewing table. “I’ll just start cutting out this pattern. When I'm done, you can sew the skirt.”

“Don't I have toilets to clean or something?”

“Franklin did that today already. You have plenty of time to make a square-dancing outfit.”

Donika sat behind the sewing machine and sewed the long seams of the full skirt. She sewed on the waistband and then sewed the hem. When she was done, Adele came back and hammered in the snaps. When they had finished sewing, Donika put on the entire outfit with a pair of her mother's cowboy boots and looked at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks turned the same color as the gingham.

“I don't think I can wear this in public,” she said.

“Nonsense, you look beautiful. All we have to do is braid that long hair of yours and you’ll look perfect.”

“Well, I do look ready to go square-dancing,” she admitted, twirling around in the skirt a bit.

Her mother braided her hair and added a handkerchief around her neck.

“There you go. Now, you look just right.”

“I don't know if I have ever been so embarrassed in my life,” Donika said.

“What are you talking about? You’ll be the belle of the ball.”

Just then, the doorbell rang. Donika looked at her watch.

“That's probably Grayson. I hope he doesn't laugh at me.”

She hurried down the hall and opened the door to find Grayson holding a cake box.

“Is that Grayson Baxter?” Pearl called from the living room.

The old lady scuttled into the hall and found Grayson at the door.

“It's about time you brought me a cake. You promised me days ago,” she said, snatching the box out of his hand.

“I'm sorry about that.”

“What kind is it anyway?” she asked, opening the box.

“Chocolate fudge layer cake,” he said with a smile.

She dipped her finger into the frosting and popped it in her mouth.

“My favorite,” she said.

Grayson looked Donika up and down and smiled broadly. He was wearing blue jeans and a flannel shirt with cowboy boots.

“You look amazing!” he said. “You said you didn't have any full skirts.”

“My mother and I made this whole outfit today.”

“I didn't know you could sew,” he said.

“It's just one of the many skills I've acquired living in this house,” she said.

“And you are all the better for it,” Grandma Pearl said, hurrying off to the kitchen to eat the cake. “Thanks for the cake.” She waved at Grayson without turning around.

“Should we go?” he asked, offering her his arm.

“Please,” Donika said.

They ducked out of the inn. Grayson chuckled, and she shook her head. They climbed into his truck and drove into town where he stopped in front of a big old red barn. During the week, it was an antique auction house. Her mother had told her that on Mondays, the antiques were all moved out after the Sunday auction, making room for square-dancing.

They walked arm in arm through the front doors, seeing all the happy faces of the other dancers. There were adults, elderly people, children, and even a few teenagers. To Donika's relief, everyone was dressed as embarrassingly as she was. They stopped at the refreshment table and got some punch as the band tuned up on the stage. The long winding notes of the fiddle echoed through the hall and someone whooped.

“They're about to start,” Grayson said excitedly.

“You should know now, I haven’t square danced since grade school.”

“That's fine,” he said. “There's nothing to it. The caller tells you exactly what to do.”

She downed her punch, wishing that it was spiked. She was going to need all the help she could get. The caller told everyone to move out onto the dance floor and stand in circles of four couples. Grayson and Donika stood side by side. The music began to play, and everyone started bopping up and down to the beat.

A smile crossed her face as the music reverberated through her body and the dancers began stomping. She couldn't help getting excited. The energy was contagious, and it got under her skin. The caller shouted out.

“Join hands and circle up eight and circle to the left, don’t be late.”

The four couples in their circle, circled around as the fiddle played.

“Swing your partner high and low.”

Grayson scooped her up in his arms and he swung her around several times to the beat of the music.

“Now promenade with a heel and toe.”

They then walked around in a circle with the other couples, as she and Grayson held hands.

“All four ladies, go into the middle and back to the bar and the gents go in with a right-hand star.”

Her heart raced, and her smile was full across her face as she tried to keep up with the dance. The caller went on, guiding the dancers along with the music. Beads of sweat formed on her brow, but she was having so much fun, she didn’t care.

The next song began to play and this time she felt like she knew the routine. She happily went along with the other dancers twisting, turning, and do-si-doing. After five songs, Donika and Grayson took a break and went for more punch at the refreshment table. Donika took her glass and drank, smiling and breathless.

“I knew you'd take to square dancing,” he said, pouring her another cup of punch. She drank it down and then another.

“You want a cookie?” he asked. “They come from the bakery.”

She took a cookie and they walked outside to cool off in the night air. The music echoed behind them as they looked up at the starry sky. Galaxies spread out in the velvety darkness, and he put his arm around her shoulder.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” she said, looking up at him.

He pressed a kiss to her lips and a thrill went through her heart. She never would have imagined she could feel so at home doing these small-town activities, wearing a pink gingham square dancing outfit with a man in a flannel shirt and cowboy boots. But she felt so good right then in Grayson’s arms.