The Great Peach Experiment 1, Erin Downing [books to read romance .TXT] 📗

guy told me there’s an island in the middle of the lake where you can canoe out and have a picnic! A picnic in the middle of water!”

Even as Herb’s excitement built to a crescendo, Dad continued to shake his head. “We just don’t have time to waste on nonsense. We’ve got permits lined up in our next few cities, and there’s so much to do to make sure we’re ready for the Food Truck Festival. We can use this forced downtime to prepare for the grand finale.” He took a deep breath, still shaking his head, and then headed off toward the campground office lobby with his laptop. “Eyes on the prize,” he declared, almost entirely to himself. “We’ve gotta keep our eyes on the prize.”

Freddy huffed. He did have eyes on the prize; he desperately wanted to see this experiment succeed, and to help his family win the Food Truck Festival. He’d love to win that cash prize. Being crowned festival champ would be a tangible, obvious mark of success. Even better than a perfect quiz in math. And if Mom were there, Freddy had no doubt they would win. If they failed, Dad would realize none of this had been worth it. Freddy needed to make sure they succeeded—for Mom, and for the future of their family.

But even as he considered this, he couldn’t help wondering: Was winning the Food Truck Festival really the ultimate prize on this summer trip? Or had they been so focused on their final destination that they’d missed an important turn somewhere along the way?

21

  HERB’S DECISION

“I decided it’s time,” Herb announced to Lucy on Monday morning, right after their dad had set off to collect the fixed-up food truck. Before he left, he had told the kids they had an hour or so left to relax, but that they should be ready to hit the road and get back to work just as soon as he got back from the shop.

“Time for what?” Lucy asked without looking up from her book. She’d been reading in the campground’s game room while Herb pretended to play video games. He didn’t actually have any quarters to put in the machines, but that didn’t matter. It was fun to pretend.

“I’ve decided to leave my mice here in Michigan,” Herb said.

“What?” Lucy glanced up. “Why?”

“They’re old enough to take care of themselves now,” he explained, his bottom lip quivering the slightest bit. “I helped take care of them when they were little, when they needed me most. But they’re bigger now and I don’t want them to be sad. I love it here, and I know they do, too. I wish we could stay here forever, but we can’t because we have to go to Ohio. But I can leave my mice in the big, grassy field over by the lake, and I think that will make them happy.”

Lucy smiled sadly. “Oh, Herbie. That’s really sweet of you. I think they’d really like to stay here.”

Herb let his sister pull him in for a tight squeeze. Lucy’s hugs felt good. And even though they didn’t make his sadness go away, they made it shrink just a little bit. “Will you come with me when it’s time to say goodbye?” Herb asked.

“Of course I will,” Lucy told him. “And I think Freddy will be happy to say goodbye to them, too.”

Herb laughed. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

A few minutes before Dad was due back at Happy Campground, Herb loaded his mice into a small box. He tucked his favorite T-shirt inside the little enclosure, and Lump nestled right into it. Herb had already decided that he would hide the shirt and box deep behind the woodpile near the campground’s sauna, just in case his mice missed him and needed a soft, safe place to sleep at night.

“You’ve done a really good job of caring for your little friends over the past few weeks, Herb,” Lucy told him as she watched Herb get everything ready.

Herb nodded. “I know.” He sat on the picnic table with the box cradled in his arms. “Hey, Lucy?”

His sister sat down beside him. “What’s up?”

“Sometimes I used to worry that I did something wrong when Mom was sick,” he admitted.

Lucy shook her head and pulled him close. “Oh, pal,” she whispered. “You didn’t.”

“I know that,” Herb said. “But I used to wonder, if I did a better job taking care of her, maybe I could have saved her?” Lucy took a deep breath and started to say something, but Herb cut her off. “Now that I’m older, I’m pretty sure I did exactly what she needed me to do. I loved her, and I brought her snacks and water when she needed them, and I snuggled close and tried to make her laugh.”

“Yeah,” Lucy said, her voice shaky. “You did all of that stuff really well.”

“I did the same thing for my mice,” Herb said, gazing up into his sister’s beautiful, kind face. “And now it’s time to let them go—just like we had to do with Mom. That’s what’s best. My mice will be happy to be free; just like Mom needed to be free of her cancer. I know it hurt her a lot at the end.”

Lucy nodded, her eyes full of tears. “You’re really something, Herb Peach.”

“You are, too, Lucy-lu.” Herb smiled at her and gazed down at his mice. It was time.

With his siblings in tow, Herb carried his mice through the campground, along the path to the lake. As they trekked across the waterfront, Herb held the box tight and Lucy wrapped her arm around his shoulder. Herb looked up at his sister, and said quietly, “I miss Mom.”

Lucy nodded. “Me, too, buddy. Me, too.”

Herb paused for a second. “But we’re gonna be okay, I think.”

Freddy kicked at the grass a few paces off, but Herb knew he was listening.

Lucy sighed, though she didn’t say anything.

“We’re gonna be okay,” Herb