The Letter

Chapter 23: The News

"I disappeared, dont wonder how/Lookin' for me? I'm underground..."

Right now, I'm sitting in the conference room at Interscope. I just finished playing all the executives the album with Paul and Dre in tow. Everyone seemed pretty pleased with what they heard and I was feeling confident.

"Good work, Marshall. You really seem to be back in top form," Jimmy said, patting me on the  shoulder. "When do you plan to promote it?"

"Well, I'm supposed to head off on the road tomorrow I think? Right, Paul?" I asked, Paul nodded in response.

"Good. Good timing. We need you back out there. The world is more than ready, I'm sure of it. Are you ready though?" he asked. I nodded. I was kind of excited to get back out on the road, but I was also still feeling kind of sad about Abby. The visit at her house was about 2 weeks ago and even though I has still been texting her and calling her I was getting no reply. I probably should have let her go by now, but I just couldn't knowing she was just ignoring me. All the executives cleared the room and Dre, Paul, and myself were the only ones left. I guess they had asked me a question and I was too deep in my own thoughts, because Dre knocked on the table, startling me a bit.

"Sorry, man, what did you ask?" I said.

"I was asking if you're aight. You don't seem as excited as you usually are about promo runs." I knew this was sarcasm. I hated promo now,  just like I always did. But that wasn't my main concern right now.

"Yeah, I'm aight. I wasn't really thinking about promo."

"You still haven't heard from Abby have you?" Dre asked. Paul shook his head, answering for me. Paul always hated when I got involved with women because it sometimes distracted me from business. Like this one did. 

"Aw man, I'm sorry. You never told me how the visit went." I just looked at him. I didn't want to talk about it. I wasn't sure if I could anyways.

"Bad," Paul answered for me. For once, I was glad he did. "Marshall, we leave early in the morning for New York. Are you packed and stuff?" I looked at Paul and cocked an eyebrow. I never packed until the last minute. He should know that about me by now. Paul shook his head and rolled his eyes, then he left the room.

"'Aye yo Dre, I kinda have this idea for a song. Do you think if I roll by the studio and lay some of it down and send it to you, you can fix a beat up for me?" Dre nodded. He and I both knew I was capable of making my own beats, but something just felt better about rapping over a Dre beat. 

We all parted ways and I headed towards the studio. It was going to be a busy day, and I still had to go home and pack some stuff. When I got to the studio I saw a familiar car parked out front along with Denaun's. I had called him to lend me some help, not so much in recording, but sending over what I finished and also making sure I don't sound whack. He was standing by the front door talking to someone who I recognized as I pulled closer to be Abby's mom. I felt a sudden tightening in my chest as I knew this couldn't be good. 

"What's going on here?" I asked as I approached them.

"'Aye Em she says she knows you?" Denaun asked. He looked pretty confused and when I had in fact confirmed it was Abby's mom I told him just that.

"Can you give us a minute Nauny? I'll be in in a sec." Denun nodded and walked inside without another word. Then I turned my attention to Abby's mom.

"Do you have somewhere we can talk?" she asked. I nodded and we went inside and into my office. I shut the door and she sat down opposite from me at my desk.

"What's going on? Is everything okay?" I asked. Abby's mom wouldn't make eye contact with me and I had already pretty much guessed what she was going to say before she said it.

"Marshall, I'm sorry to say that Abby passed away a couple of days ago. She was home, in her room, just like she wanted. It was peaceful." I saw a tear leave her eye and I got up and went around the desk to hug her. She cried for a minute or two, then she pulled away and sat back down. I took that as my cue to take my seat as well.

"She specifically asked for there to not be any kind of funeral. She didn't want a bunch of people standing around being sad over her. You know how she was." She kind of chuckled and I couldn't help but smile as I pictured her saying just that with her attitude turned up on full blast.

"Instead, Abby wrote letters. In her last week of life she wrote everyone who meant something to her a letter. She said it was a good way to pass the time and get everything out on paper she wanted to say. So, here is yours." With that, Abby's mom handed me a light pink envelope. It had my name scripted across the front in beautiful writing. With tears in my eyes I accepted it, but didn't dare to open it. 

"I understand if you want to wait for the right time to open it. I know this is a lot to process, but know that you meant a lot to Abby, even if she didn't want to tell you so." She got up and started to head out of the office but turned back as if she forgot something. "I also wanted to tell you that if you ever need anything from me please don't hesitate to ask. Abby loved you, so you will always be family to me." She wrote her number down on a small piece of paper and then she left my office. I sat there for a few minutes in shock, but also felt really sad. I looked down at the pink envelope and turned the letter over and over in my hand. All I could think about was all the time I had got to spend with Abby.  I was very curious about what this letter said, but I also knew with promo and everything I had piled on my plate right now I couldn't handle processing this loss. So I put the envelope in the desk drawer and walked out to go finish what I came here to do. 

I knew Abby loved me. Even if she never said it. So that letter could wait.