“We did what we had to do,” he said.

“What will you do now?” I asked.

He let out a long, slow breath, letting go of his wife’s hand and running his fingers over his jaw. “We’ll clear, and we’ll rebuild. Several of the citrus trees made it through the fires and we’ll begin grafting in the spring. If you have time, I’d love to go over the particulars to ensure I’m not overlooking anything. There’s no room for error right now and almost all of the others who live here moved in after the citrus business began to die.”

“Yeah, of course. I’d be happy to.” I looked between them. “It’s going to be a lot of work.”

She gave me a wistful smile. “There are plenty of young people here, and they have children. We’ll do our part, of course, but we do know our limits. We’ve made a good team so far, all of us together.”

I felt a knot in my shoulder muscles loosen. They were taken care of. They’d made it this far, and I felt confident they’d continue forward. I was especially relieved to know they’d banded together with others.

“Will you stay, Tuck?” Mrs. Swanson asked. “You would be invaluable to getting a functioning citrus farm set up. We lost some animals, but still have chickens and several goats. We’ll need to start breeding them as quickly as possible.” She brought her hand to her forehead. “Oh, there are a million things to do. But what else is there now if we want to survive?”

“I’d love to stay and help with the labor, Mrs. Swanson, but I’ve been offered a position in Kansas, and maybe other places too. There are people in need of help everywhere now, and things are only going to get worse before they get better. Especially in the cities. There are groups of people with special skills, some military, some first responders, and others, who have backgrounds like me. They’re forming teams and doing what they can for people in bad situations.”

Her brow knitted. “That sounds very dangerous.”

“Maybe. I’m up for it.”

“I know. Yes, of course you are. And we’re up for the work we have in front of us too. Thank heavens we have enough to start with.”