Free A Season for Family by Mae Nunn

shooed her. “I’ll get this stuff unloaded.”
    Olivia hurried to the men’s dorm. Amos was curled on his side beneath several blankets. The warmth from a small space heater had the window sweating next to his bunk, yet Amos’s teeth still chattered uncontrollably. Olivia remembered her own chill and raw throat fromthe evening before, but that seemed to have passed. She bent closer, placed the back of her fingers against his unshaved cheek.
    â€œHis temp has to be well over a hundred.”
    â€œThe poor old fella’s hotter than a $2 pistol,” Velma agreed.
    â€œIs anybody else showing the same symptoms?”
    â€œNot that I know of.” She shook her head.
    Olivia fished in her pocket, and pulled out the key to her apartment. “Go set up the sofa bed in my living room. We’ll move him upstairs just in case he’s contagious.”
    â€œIt’s closin’ the gate after the cows are out, but worth a try.”
    Olivia followed behind Velma. When she turned into the stairwell, Olivia continued out the exit.
    Heath hefted a box filled with canned goods, handed it to Nick who headed inside and then reached for another carton. “How is he?” Heath asked.
    â€œVelma didn’t exaggerate. I’ll get him moved up to my place so we can keep him quarantined.”
    â€œYou get a flu shot?” He barked as if he knew what her answer might be.
    She shook her head, ashamed of being shortsighted, especially in the midst of so much hype about this year’s flu season.
    â€œI meant to have somebody over from the free clinic but that detail never made it to the top of my to-do list.”
    â€œI can look after the old guy.”
    â€œYou?” She couldn’t help smiling at the grudging offer. She’d lay odds Heath had never filled the role of caregiver. This would be a rough initiation.
    â€œHey, I know I wouldn’t be anybody’s first choice,but I did have the good sense to take a flu shot so I’m less likely to get sick.”
    She gave an emphatic shake of her head. “No, my staff is my responsibility.”
    â€œMaybe so, but if you come down with the crud, who’s gonna run this place?”
    â€œGood point,” Olivia agreed, knowing she was in no position to decline his offer.
    When Nick returned, she asked him to finish up the unloading. Then she motioned for Heath to follow.
    â€œI’m pretty sure we’ll have to carry him up the steps. Want me to get Bruce to help us?”
    Heath cut a glance her way, an insulted squint to his eyes. “I beg your pardon, but I do occasionally get away from the computer and into the gym. I’m pretty sure I can manage his scrawny hide by myself.”
    â€œSorry,” she murmured as they passed the men’s locker room, and then hurried through the bunks to Amos’s bed. She’d been right, he was in no shape to walk, much less climb a flight of steps.
    Heath didn’t hesitate once he reached the bedside. He tossed off two blankets, tucked the third neatly around Amos’s limp body and scooped the man up as effortlessly as he might lift a child.
    â€œLead the way,” he instructed.
    She moved through the familiar hallways, her handiwork on the walls a blur as a dozen questions sprang to mind. What if somebody else came down with it? Maybe she should close for a few days rather than risk making her clients sick, but where else would they go in this bitter-cold weather?
    At the top of the stairs, the door to the apartment stood open. The sofa was pulled out with fresh sheets smoothed over the mattress. Heath settled Amoscarefully and Olivia tucked warm blankets around his shivering body. Heath was silent. He’d stepped back and shifted his gaze to her walls. She noticed his wide-eyed stare at the unframed canvases that crowded every lateral surface of her minimal living quarters.
    â€œWe’ve gotta get his fever down,” Olivia