You'll Never Stand Alone

Chapter 37

Whitney hummed softly to herself as she got dressed in a sexy, yet tasteful Johanna Johnson original. The number gave a classy peek at her perky bust, hugging her tall, petite frame. The material was made in shiny silver squares, similar to a disco ball. She topped it off with a pair of red pumps that elongated her famous gams even more. She sported a new sassy, bob with blunt bangs, framing her oval face and strong bone structure perfectly. To put it bluntly, Whitney knew she looked good.

She was excited for what should be a fun evening with her and Kevin's family and friends. Kevin's birthday was that day and she went all out to plan a special night for him to enjoy. He went out of his way to love and please her, so she had no problem going all out for him. She got together with a party planner and planned a party for Kevin on Kevin's parents' yacht, Christened The Jade by Kevin's father, Bill. A ninety-footer, it was very light, airy and high-tech with blond hardwood and jade and black marble running throughout. Their favorite chef was coming along to prepare all of the food. They worked on the menu together and planned some delicious meals for the weekend. She also made sure there was plenty of beer, margaritas and Cristal for all who wanted to enjoy were aboard.

She had flown back to L.A. that day, almost done with her tour for the event. She wanted to be there to celebrate with her husband and the timing of the tour break couldn't have come at an opportune time. As much as she wanted to keep everything a secret, it would have been next to impossible to go over details and keep him from making any plans without telling him.

As she sat down on their bedroom bed, she looked down at her phone and saw that it was cutting it very close to when she and Kevin were to meet everyone on the boat. Whitney had to admit that the past two days between them had been quite strange. She could barely get in touch with him the day before, which was very unusual since they talked every day when they were apart from each other. When she finally did get in touch with him to tell him the plans, he did not seem to give her the reaction she was looking for. When she asked him what was wrong, he simply mumbled that he had a lot going on. She assumed that it had to be work-related with producing his latest movie and told him that the party is just what he needed to relax. Even after that, he didn't have much else to say, as much as Whitney tried to pry it out of him. She finally sighed and heeded her mother's advice that she once told her "Sometimes a man needs time to figure things out on his own. No one, not even his wife, can help him out. And that's okay...sometimes". As much as it bothered her that her usual upbeat, positive, strong companion wasn't letting her in on what was bothering him, she told him that she would meet him at home that night so they can go to the party together, let him know that he can call her anytime between then to talk, and left it at that. Kevin still didn't say much, but agreed to the plans.

"Hopefully, this party will uplift my baby." She positively thought to herself. "Hopefully...."

Meanwhile, CeCe was silent as she watched her brother BeBe and her husband carry all of their bags out to the Escalade. She and her husband were carpooling with BeBe and his wife to the party. She still felt very uneasy about carrying around the secret about Whitney and it would be hard to mingle with Kevin knowing what she knew.

"You okay sis? You've been more quiet than usual this evening." BeBe said as he came up to her. CeCe sighed. "You know how I am about parties. I have to be up for them, and at the moment, I'm not." She told him. BeBe laughed at his sister, "The Reluctant Star", thinking she was having one of her homebody moments. "Aww girl, you can be such a Suzie Homemaker sometimes! We can't miss our brother Kevin's birthday and Whit put a lot of hard work into this. You'll feel up to it once you get with everybody."

"I sure hope so" CeCe agreed, although her face still showed otherwise.

Back at the Costners, Whitney nervously began to pace back and forth in the living room, trying her best to remain calm. Kevin should have been home some hours ago. Now they were going to be very late for Kevin's own party. She tried calling Kevin's phone again, but there still wasn't an answer; she couldn't help but to start worrying. It was very unlike him to not return her calls. Somehow, they had weathered the storm of the publicity from the release party only to arrive at this point.... Kevin's behavior was totally out of his character and Whitney had no idea why. She was trying to think of who to call that could tell her about his whereabouts when she saw his black Range Rover zip into the driveway.