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

with them? That he might take some time away from his research to have family dinners, go hiking, and maybe even sometimes be there to see them off in the morning before school? If that was what Dad was suggesting, Freddy was even more resolved to make this venture successful. “What would you consider ’enough money’?” Freddy asked, curious to see if his Dad’s expectations lined up with reality.

“Well…” Dad scratched his head. “I suppose if we came home with ten thousand dollars or so in profits, I would consider that a success? It’s less than my salary at the university, but it’s not peanuts. It would be a good start, that’s for sure.”

Freddy nodded. Ten thousand dollars. That seemed doable, didn’t it? How hard could it be to make ten thousand bucks selling pies?

Through a mouthful of peach filling, Herb asked, “How long do we have to make that much money?”

“A month,” Dad told him.

Herb nodded, and judging by his far-off expression, Freddy could tell his little brother was doing mental math. “So, if we bring in $2,500 in profits each week,” Herb said, “or about $350 per day, that would do it.”

Freddy gaped at his little brother. How did Herb do that kind of math in his head so fast? But Herb was a math whiz, so Freddy knew those calculations must be correct. “We can do it,” Freddy promised. He would make sure of it.

Dad went on, “The past few years have been hard on all of us, and I know work has been taking up a lot of my time. Perhaps…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Well, let’s just see how this goes first.”

Ever since Mom died, Dad hadn’t been around much. Freddy missed their family time. They used to have all kinds of fun traditions—building and flying homemade kites in the park on Sundays, first-Saturday-of-the-month slime-mixing stations, cupcake decorating competitions. All those things had disappeared along with Mom. Lucy had done her best to keep things as normal as possible, but there was only so much she could do. Except now, maybe, Dad was ready to help search for some of the missing parts of their family.

Freddy smiled at each of his siblings as he took another bite of pie. They could do this!

Dad blundered on. “We do have one more important thing to discuss as a family. I’ve been doing a bit of thinking, and I thought it might be fun if we each set some sort of goal for this summer.”

Freddy lifted his eyebrows. Setting goals sounded suspiciously like homework.

“A plan, of sorts, to guide our experiment,” Dad declared. “Of course, there should also be some room for surprises along the way. Like that time I thought I was getting a sediment core from the Norwegian Sea, but it turned out the core we opened was from the North Sea.” He chuckled and drifted off, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Ah, yes, that was exciting. What I’m trying to say is, in addition to setting goals for the trip, there will also be plenty of room for serendipity this summer.”

“Sara and who?” Herb asked. “Who’s Ippity?”

“What’s that now?” Dad asked.

“You said Sara and Ippity,” Herb repeated. Dad stared at him, clearly not understanding. Herb asked, “Who are they?”

“Serendipity,” Lucy explained. “It’s a word that means a happy little accident—a fun surprise.”

Through a mouthful of pie, Dad said, “I recently found out about a food truck festival in Delaware, Ohio, that I thought could be a good end point for our journey. The winning truck takes home a ten-thousand-dollar cash prize. If we won, that would certainly help to prove this experiment was truly worth it. The route I have planned will take us through Ohio anyway, so I was thinking we could make the festival a sort of goal. We can take a few weeks to get our business up and running, make some good money along the way, and then at the festival, we’ll be able to test what we’ve learned during our experiment.”

Freddy loved the idea of winning a food truck festival. This was exactly the kind of specific goal he could get on board with. Best of all, if they won, they’d be coming home with at least ten thousand dollars. Then dad would have no choice but to see this summer as a success! “I’m in,” he said. “So how do they figure out who the food truck festival winner is?”

“An excellent question, Fred!” Dad said. “Each food truck that enters gets a score based on how much money they make during the festival, as well as being judged on customer service and taste.”

“Got it,” Freddy said, nodding seriously. That seemed simple enough. They could practice all of those things—making money, baking tasty pies, and being nice to customers—over the next few weeks. “What will we do with the money when we win?”

Dad took a deep breath. “Well, I suppose we’d have to figure that out. Perhaps we could use it to do a couple of the other things your Mom always talked about doing together: unique trips, big adventures, maybe take a cheese class.”

“A cheese class?” Freddy asked, lifting his eyebrows.

“You learn about and taste different types of cheese,” Dad explained. “That’s just one idea, of course. We can figure out how to spend the winnings together.”

“Let’s worry about winning first, okay?” Lucy suggested.

“Yes,” Dad said, nodding solemnly. “Yes, that’s a good point. Now, what’s everyone else’s personal goal for the trip? Winning the Ohio Food Truck Festival can be a goal we all work toward as a family. But I’d like each of you to come up with a goal of your own, to make this experience more meaningful.”

“I know!” Herb said, jumping up and down. “I know my goal. I love swimming. And since we aren’t going to get a pool for the backyard yet, can we try to swim every day during our trip? Will our hotels have indoor