Page 93 of The Sound of Us

“It sounds familiar. I feel like I’ve seen it on something.” I pulled out my phone and flipped through my pictures. “Is this his company?” I showed him the logo on the side of the truck I’d spotted mixing garbage and recycling outside the athletic center.

Dante stared at the circular logo with the wordsRossi WasteManagement Serviceswritten below. “I would assume so. It’s not a common name.”

It only took a quick internet search to confirm that Rossi Waste Management was indeed Dante’s father’s company.

“Should we sneak back inside?” I asked. “I’ve got enough evidence to run a story about how his company has been mixing waste and recycling and bribing people to look the other way. I’ve even got pictures.”

“Babe…” Dante gave me a hug. “Enjoy your win before you start digging into another story.”

I laughed. “That’s what journalists do.”

“My journalist,” he said, brushing his lips over my hair.

“Yours,” I agreed. “Now… How do you want to expose him? University press? Social media?Chicago Tribune? I’m not even going to try and submit my recycling story to Professor Stanton because I have a feeling the university will shut this one down, too.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Dante said.

“Does it involve a trip to a hidden balcony at the top of the world?”

“It involves taking the pictures to my dad and making him reopen the station.”

“Oh.” I gave a heavy sigh. “Blackmail. I guess that could be kind of fun. But honestly, I was hoping to celebrate my incredible victory with some sex in an abandoned building and a new playlist.”

“We’re supposed to meet everyone at the bar to celebrate,” he said. “They played hide-and-seek in the hallways to distract the security guard and forgot to tell him he was the seeker.”

“That’s a shame,” I said. “All the excitement made me want to be a very bad good girl. It could be we were delayed coming to the bar because the custodian brought the wrong key.”

Dante sucked in a sharp breath and his eyes narrowed. “Did I ever tell you about the tunnel under the math building?”

“No.”

He tugged my hand, walking so quickly I had to jog to keep up. “It’s soundproofed,” he said. “No one will be able to hear you scream.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT“The End” by the DoorsDANTE

I got the call the day after Skye’s story blew up in the media. I had planned to visit my dad for a fun round of blackmail, but everything was put on hold when Bella told me Noah was missing.

“One day,” she shouted over the phone. “I was away for one day to visit a friend, and I came to discover his car is gone, and his pets are with the pet sitter, ready to go to the new forever homes he arrangedlast month.” Her voice rose on the last two words. “His phone and house keys are on the dining room table. I called the hospital and they said he’d canceled the rest of his treatments. We need to find him.”

We spent the day driving around the city looking for Noah’s distinctive red-and-white 1969 Dodge Charger RT. We visited his favorite bars and restaurants, shops, and parks. We called every contact in his address book and drove all the way along Lake Shore Drive in case he’d decided to freeze himself to death while taking in the view. It was like a farewell tour, and by the time the sun set, we’d resigned ourselves to the fact that Noah was missing because he wanted to be missing, and there was nothing we could do to bring him back.

We returned to the house and Bella ordered some food while I walked around taking stock of what Noah had left behind. Unlike my family home, his memories were still there—his collection of vinyl, the basketball hoop he’d put up to get me outsideduring my darkest days, pictures of his family and his pets, his favorite fringed leather jacket and worn cowboy boots, the green armchair where he sat every night to listen to his favorite songs, the table where he’d helped me fill in my university applications, a collection of bolo ties, and enough musical paraphernalia to open a museum. “He took his guitar,” I said after I’d finished my walk down memory lane.

Bella looked up from the row of family pictures. “He’s gone to find Caroline.”

“I saw him yesterday.” My hand tightened on the chew toy I’d found in the hallway. “I wish I’d known that was the last time I’d get to talk to him.” I could barely keep it together. I felt untethered. I needed Skye, but she was caught in a whirlwind of interviews and radio and television appearances and I wasn’t about to pull her away from her moment in the sun.

“Fuck.” I threw the toy across the room. “I can’t do this without him.”

“Do what?” Bella turned to me, her eyes wet with tears.

“Life.” I scrubbed my hands over my face. “I’ve lost everyone I ever loved. I can’t lose him, too.”

“You’ve been doing life on your own for a long time,” Bella said. “And you’re not alone. You’ve got me. You’ve got Skye. Noah said you’ve even managed to make friends. You’ve got your future all mapped out. If Noah thought you needed him, he’d still be here.”

“I do need him.” My voice cracked, broke. “I don’t know what to do, Bella. I’ve known what I wanted to do for the last four years, but now I think I might be on the wrong path. I need to talk to him. If he’d just waited…”

“Then he wouldn’t have gone. You were like a son to him, Dante. The thing that distressed him most was the idea of leaving you. He’s been living with this illness for a lot longer than you know, but he hung on until he knew you’d be okay.”

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