Production trucks lined the driveway of The Varnish, in which Whitney's good friend Faith Evans recently opened up. The place had been made into an intimate setting, with a bit of lounge feel to it. It would set the perfect setting for Whitney's acoustic tonality. It also was also becoming restaurant with some reputable dishes. The move would be great Public Relations for Faith as well, with getting her place a lot of exposure.
"Can you believe this? I really can't believe this!" Faith exclaimed as she looked outside the door of her restaurant and frowned. CeCe looked over her at the weather and sighed "Whoever sung "It Never Rains in Southern California" definitely didn't have this kind of day in mind." CeCe had stopped by to help prepare for the showcase. She would also be doing a sound check as Whitney insisted that her and BeBe perform be one of the artists in the opening act.
It was the night of the showcase and the weather had taken a turn for the worst. It had rained and thundered continuously all morning, putting a huge damper on preparation plans. Production trucks lined the driveway of The Varnish, while the production crew wore yellow ponchos to avoid getting wet by cars that splashed towards their way as they drove by. They tried their best to continue working on connecting cables from the truck into the club.
"Lord why does it have to rain the night of this showcase?" Faith continued frowning as she looked up at the sky. "What if this is a sign CeCe? You know how these Californians are. They forget what rain looks like and turn into the absolute worst drivers. What if no one shows up because of this?" CeCe calmly chewed on a pistachio, while shaking her head. "Fay, I know you are truly tripping when you let something like that come out of your mouth." Before Faith could say anything else, the head cook Anthony, walked up to them. "Hate to tell you ladies this, but the electricity's out. All of the seafood, Cristal and other drinks are in the 'fridge." "Well what about the generator?" Faith anxiously asked. "It's not working either" he replied. "It's due to the crazy thunderstorms."
"Well what are we going to use for electricity then? Because we can't do the concert without electricity." Faith stated the obvious, trying her best to somehow stay calm. "I've called someone to come out and fix things, but I'm worried about the refrigerator. All of the fresh seafood is in there and I don't want it to spoil." "Damn. Also I have the fresh roses that will start to wilt if not chilled." Faith let out a huge sigh.
Always calm,CeCe took control. "Nothing's gonna spoil or wilt, We'll just go to Costco and buy up every last bag of ice that they have in there and put everything in coolers until someone can fix this. The show must go on. But first, we need to pray. She grabbed Faith's hands they prayed for everything they possibly could think of. "I needed that" Faith admitted once they finished. "We all need to be reminded and silenced about who is REALLY in control. God has this!"
Afterwards Faith, CeCe and Anthony filed out to the store.
The rain diminished into mist by the time the three had got back to lounge with bags of ice loaded in the company van.
"The electricity is still out ladies," one of the crew members announced to them CeCe and Faith wrung their wrists. Faith hated to possibly face the choice to cancel, but knew that she had to plan for it just in case. It would cause a huge mess starting with Whitney, Clive, to the production crews and so forth.
Just then, Kellie (who Whitney insisted on being her top publicist for the event because her previous excellent work with her) pulled up in her Maserati. Before she could take two steps toward them, the ladies explained everything that was going wrong. Kellie sighed and began to walk back and forth in deep thought. "We can't cancel this thing that's for sure. People have been calling all day asking for tickets, although we sold out on the first day! Tonight is gonna be epic in all sorts of ways." In full publicist mode, she whipped out her phone and made a few calls to some personal business connections. Not long after, trucks filled with generators pulled up and the crew came out to hook up the much needed energy. Kellie finally took a sigh a relief, running her hands through her honey blonde hair as she got back to the girls. "Okay, I think everything's gonna be okay. I've called some connects at Party Rental and they are on their way with a few more tents and there are a whole lot more generators out here now. We can just move the press to the tents. The head of the production crew said that they can give us lights out here. The only thing we are lacking is air conditioning and lights inside."
Anthony came back over, rubbing his hands together. "Good news, the stove is gas and the food's still fresh, so we can start cooking." "Thank God for small favors," CeCe finally said in relief as Faith nodded in agreement. "The China, linens and silverware are all here, so all we really need are some nice candles," he suggested. Kellie made a few more notes in her phone and looked up. "Well ladies, I think this show is fully back in motion! All we need to do is go downtown and find some pretty decorations, and we pretty much will be set."
"Thank you Jesus and Kellie and Anthony, I could hug y'all! You both came in the clutch!" Faith excitedly exclaimed. Kellie shrugged nonchalantly. "That's what I get paid for. To extinguish all fires to the best of my ability"
"Come on Fay, I'm feeling really creative all of a sudden." CeCe said. They had Anthony take them downtown to the Flower Mart.
Meanwhile, Whitney sat in a chair in her dressing room while her stylist, Tiffanie added some extensions to her hair.
"Tiff, girl, I'm nervous about tonight." Whitney admitted. "I haven't really performed in years and it's raining like crazy. Can you believe this? I hope this isn't a sign from God or something."
"You are gonna be sound AND look fabulous tonight." Tiffanie gave her a hand mirror and she inspected her fresh, tresses twisted into loose curls along with butterscotch-colored highlights. The look complimented her youthful face and flawless mahogany complexion. "I like this. But it's not too glamourous is it?" she asked as she looked at Tiffanie in the vanity mirror. "Don't confuse beauty with glamour Nippy. But in your case, the two are interchangeable. You can never hide your beauty."
"Thanks baby girl. I sure hope that I can pull this off." Whitney said as she took one last look in the mirror.
"Pull what off?" Kevin asked, smiling as he entered the room. He was just getting back from his own business meeting to plan his next film. "Is it safe for me to come in?"
"Sure baby. I was just talking about tonight's performance." She got up and made her way to her husband's arms, where she felt safest. "I'm glad you're back baby." "You know that I'm gonna be here for you." He assured her. "This is a very special night for you." "It's a special night for US." Whitney corrected him. "You're right babe." Kevin agreed. "Sometimes we get so caught up in our careers and kids, that we don't even come up for air" Whitney joked to Tiffanie. "I can't believe that we are both here before the kids are back from school."
After Tiffanie left, Whitney practiced one last time, not wanting to strain her vocals before that night. She went back upstairs to where Kevin took a shower and was in a casual shirt and basketball shorts for the time being. "What are you up to?" she asked. Kevin yawned. "I'm an old man. I need a nap before tonight's festivities. Lay down with me."
"Okay, but I'm not sure if I can sleep." Whitney admitted. Kevin pulled her on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. She immediately felt calmer as she scooted up against his chest and felt strength by being in his presence. It was something that no drug could have ever given to her. "You are gonna be great tonight baby, don't worry. Everyone's gonna love you. We're all there for you tonight, like you've been there for us. " He closed his eyes and gave her a kiss. "You should try to get a nap in so you can feel better."
Why am I even doing this? she thought. I belong here the most with my husband and my babies now. She bit the bottom of her lip to keep from crying. It's just for one night. She reminded herself as she drifted off to sleep.
CeCe and Faith transformed the lounge just in time. The two of them worked fast and diligently on the decorations by cutting out gold fabric for the tables and spray painting vases gold to put sunflowers inside of them. They sat out the china and the gold-trimmed plates along with gold napkins. To finish off their beautiful hard work, they sat big sparkly candles around each table. The fire from the candles gave off just enough ambiance to make a person feel both dazed and right at home. The two star women were proud and humbled by their beautiful creation.
Soon after, people began showing up, including Clive, the production team from MTV and the numerous amount of press. Many celebrities and 'who's who' of Hollywood were slated to show up including Oprah, Babyface and David Foster to show support. Meanwhile, Kellie ran back and forth to make sure things were running smoothly behind the scenes.
BeBe soon showed up with his family and he and CeCe did a quick run-through of their set. "Man, I can't believe this is the same jukejoint. It looks great around here!" "Um come again?" Faith said as she raised up her fist playfully. CeCe laughed "Juke joint? BeBe you are so silly!" CeCe told her brother and bandmate as Kellie came by.
"Everything is starting to look fantastic! Press and guest are starting to come in. The opening acts seem ready to go. Now we are just waiting for Kevney to arrive." They all gave her a strange look. "Kevney?" Faith asked. "Yes. They have been dubbed that a lot in the media these days, so it's probably something that will stick." Kellie explained. "Well, I've heard worse for couple nicknames. That's not so bad" BeBe stated.
Soon, Whitney and Kevin arrived from the back to avoid the paparazzi and they began to greet their friends, family and personnel. Cissy, Michael, Gary and their in-laws were present as well. They all headed into the dressing room for further privacy. "Oh thank God, you guys are here!" Kellie said with a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you two are here, Clive and Kellie are running around like they've lost his mind." BeBe half-joked, causing everyone to snicker. "I'm just trying to make sure that everything runs smoothly, especially after the day that we have had." Kellie explained as Faith and CeCe nodded in agreement.
Whitney and Kevin looked around, "Wow, looks great around here" Kevin breathed. "It really does. Thank you all for everything. I don't think I could have done this without any of you." Whitney said, not trying to tear up.
Faith shook her head "Please the two of you are doing us a favor. Once word got out that you were performing and of course, with Kevin being here as well, all of our tickets immediately sold out! We even sold out of the VIP tickets, which were $1500 dollars!" "Fifteen hundred dollars?" Whitney's almond eyes widened in amazement. "Yep. A lot of this will go to the Heal the Kids and The Whitney Houston foundation. We just wanted to cover costs." Faith went on. "That is so cool. I sure hope that people get their money's worth after seeing the performance." Whitney stated.
Everyone filed out of the dressing room except Kevin and Cissy until it was time to perform. They both made sure that Whitney was calm and at peace before she made her grand entrance. They held hands and asked God to shine his light and favor on her voice and performance before going in the audience, front and center with the children so that Whitney could see them clearly.
BeBe and CeCe tore the house down, while Faith did an impromptu solo as well as Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and R. Kelly as the opening acts. Finally, Clive came onstage and thanked everyone for coming and went into a brief speech on how Whitney was discovered and the remarkable, legendary career that she had made. He praised her on overcoming some personal obstacles and how excited she was to do this "One Night Only" showcase. When her name was finally called, Whitney walked out into a standing ovation, which was totally unexpected to her; it all gave her an adrenaline rush. She was exquisite in a simple pair of gold stretch denim jeans, topaz booties, a white halter top with a gold scarf and diamond earrings that Kevin gave her for their 10th anniversary. The girls did a great job in helping her pick out her attire. She wore a little makeup that made her naturally beautiful face look flawless and her hair still looked flowing and flawless.
She smiled, softly thanked the audience, grabbed her microphone and sat on a stage that made the audience feel like they were inside of her living room. Her accompaniment was just a grand piano, light percussion, an acoustic guitar and three background singers. She exhaled and paused for a second to look out for her family, who proudly sat front and center not caring who took pictures of them.
Whitney began to sing a cover of Brenda Russell's hit "Piano in The Dark.". She felt vulnerable as she let the audience hear the lyrics about love, happiness, and hope. From there, she sung some of her biggest hits, acoustic style, including a sultry version of "You Give Good Love", "Just The Lonely Talking", "The Greatest Love of All", "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "All The Man That I Need" "I Love The Lord" "My Love Is Your Love" and "Exhale" and "I Have Nothing". Of course it was a given that she performed "I Will Always Love You". Her good friend and saxophonist Kirk Whalum joined her onstage for the reunion performance.
As she sang through each song, the audience was transformed. People forgot everything and became enthralled with her performance. Although Whitney's voice was a richer and a bit subtle, everyone was reminded why she was dubbed one the greatest singers of all time. The rain seemed to be forgotten about and no one seemed to mind the lack of air condition, as the night ocean breeze cooled the entire room.
She took a swig of her water and sat down on her stool. "This last song is very dear to me. It's a new song that was presented to me by Mr. Robert Kelly and it hit home for me. It spoke to my life."
She paused for effect. "And I would like to dedicate this to God and my beautiful, wonderful family. They are the loves of my life and the keys to my heart." She blew a kiss at Kevin, her children, mother and brothers. "I love you all so much." Kevin had to hold back tears as the piano started and Whitney rawfully started to sing. "As I lay me down/ Heaven hear me now/ I'm lost without a cause. After giving it my all/ Winter storms have come/And darkened my sun/After all that I've been through/ Who on earth can I turn to?I look to you/ I look to you/ After all my strength is gone/ In you I can be strong/ I look to you/ I look to you/ And when melodies are gone/ In you I hear a song/ I look to you
Couples and families began to hold each other's hands and snuggled up in the reminder of the power of love. Faith leaned to her husband, and they swayed to the music. CeCe gave her husband a peck on the lips. Krissy and the twins were too proud of their mother and had grins on their faces. There were tears in Cissy and her brother's eyes. "She sounds amazing dad," Lily whispered to Kevin in admiration. Kevin couldn't help but smile on, proud that she had the courage to come back and grab everyone in the palm of her hands. Clive closed his eyes and swayed to the melody Yep. She's still got it! he thought happily. Nursing a glass of wine, Kellie turned away to wipe a few tears that had accumulated in her eyes.
"I look to yoouuuuuu…" she finished out the song with her signature head voice, runs, and gospel-tinged improvations.
Afterwards, there were a few moments of silence as everyone took it in. Finally everyone broke into applause, cheering and yelling in approval. Some secretly wiped tears from their eyes. Kevin stood up and gave her a loving hug and kiss as he handed her a flower.
"Encore, encore!" a few people began to yell soon after. Whitney smiled through the tears that she didn't know had fallen because she was completely into her song. She looked over at her longtime musical director Rickey Minor and nodded, giving him the cue to start the vamp up to "I Look To You". Everyone immediately silenced themselves, not wanting to miss another round.
The next day, every popular radio station in L.A. talked about her performance at the showcase- and they couldn't help but praise her "comethrough". Somehow, stations got a hold onto some copies and played "I Look To You". A few copies were overnighted to New York and number of big market stations. Comedian Steve Harvey played the song every hour on his radio station. Viacom hurried to retrieve a video copy of her performance so they could air it on VH1 and MTV. Whitney's site almost crashed with so many visitors and J- Records were getting flooded with calls.
Reviews were nothing less than rave, and gushed about her "perfectly, imperfect" performance, the ambiance of the lounge and gave a shoutout to the great food from The Varnish. The media (for once) was positive, gushing about Whitney's "riveting collection of vocals that have matured enough to still rival her former self." They went on to say that there was not a dry eye in the house; everyone rooted for her to be on top again despite her once personal struggles. People had gotten another taste of the once "Prom Queen of Soul" and couldn't wait for new album.
Old and new fans were ready for Whitney to come back…. But they could only wonder if she was ready for them.