to walk him through the steps to figure something out like you did.”
“I just don’t think I’m a good teacher.”
“You’re already teaching,” Liam replied.
Okay, well, he had me there. “I don’t know,” I repeated. “I just wouldn’t know where to start with that.”
Nicole took a swig from her water bottle and then pointed it at me. “Look into some workforce training classes. A lot of colleges offer night classes to adults who want to brush up on their language or cooking or technological skills.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Liam butted in. “And I know for a fact that our community college is always hiring workforce training instructors.”
Too late, Liam realized what he had just said. So did everyone else, as silence fell around us. Liam and I had agreed not to talk about where we were going after this week ended, but there it hung on the periphery anyway.
“I’m sure colleges back in Idaho offer it too,” Liam added to break the silence.
“Did you bring any beer?” Vince asked, lifting up the lids of Liam’s and Seth’s coolers. The distraction was a welcome one, but I could see the frustration on Seth’s face almost instantly.
“Nope,” Liam said, chugging his water bottle. “There are some waters though. You should hydrate. It gets hot as hell out here.”
“I’ve had plenty of water,” Vince said, but I hadn’t seen him drink from anything except the new stainless-steel water bottle—which matched the one he had nearly pegged Nicole with—and somehow, I doubted its contents were water and water alone.
Nicole offered a chip to Seth. “Eat this,” she said, breaking the tension in his shoulders. “It’s okay,” she added, so quietly that I was sure only he and I could hear. But Seth looked at her like it was not okay. They exchanged several long looks before Seth turned and gave a similar one to Liam.
“Naomi and Chad shouldn’t be riding with him if he’s drinking,” Seth said under his breath. Vince was still digging through coolers as if Liam had lied to him.
“Should we head back?” Nicole said, still quiet enough that Vince wouldn’t be able to hear.
Liam nodded and turned to Chad, communicating wordlessly that the trip to the desert was over. It seemed unfair that one person was ruining it for everyone else, but there were no easy solutions to this problem. I could see the agitation in Vince’s shoulders as he came up empty handed. He would likely insist on driving the side-by-side again, with who knows how much alcohol in his system, and it wasn’t far for anyone to have to share that vehicle.
“I gotta head back,” Liam said, looking at his phone like he was reading a message. “Work calls.” Everyone except Vince took this easily and began picking up our trash and bottles.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Vince asked, causing the rest of us to freeze.
“Sorry.” Liam tucked his phone in his pocket and straightened.
“What the fuck was the point of coming all the way out here, only to spend a few hours on the dunes?” Vince’s dark eyes were black, and his body turned red from sun or from anger—I didn’t know which—but he was a scary sight to behold.
“Sorry,” Liam repeated. “It’s my job. I have to head back. And since it’s my truck—”
“You’re pathetic,” Vince spat. “Always bailing on all of us. The boring one. Boring Liam Best.”
I watched as Liam took Vince’s insults without a flicker of anger. He had more composure than I did, however.
I had to speak up. “Vince, calm down.”
Vince turned those eyes on me and then a finger was thrust toward my face. “Stay out of this.”
I opened my mouth, but Liam placed his hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay,” he told me out of the side of his mouth. But it wasn’t okay to me. It wasn’t okay that they all continued to let Vince get away with this shit. At a certain point, they were only enabling him.
“I don’t even know what everyone sees in you,” Vince continued, kicking his half-eaten sandwich and sending sand everywhere. “You bail on us. All the goddamn time.”
“That’s enough,” Seth said, standing. “You need to calm the fuck down.”
Something about Seth seemed to quiet Vince, and he flapped his hand at us like we weren’t worth the effort anymore and headed back to Chad’s rental.
“I’ll go with him,” Naomi said after a moment, sliding off the side-by-side and brushing crumbs from her hands. “He’s grieving too. Remember that.”