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he’s still very attractive from the neck up. Now that I’m looking closer, I notice a small pale scar under his right eye and one down along his jawline. The scars mar the perfection of his features, but also give him this really sexy rugged look. I’m not sure why I’m thinking about this, though.
    “So aren’t you going to ask?” he says.
    “Huh?” I reply innocently.
    “‘Oh my god, Luke, what happened to you?!’ Or something along those lines.” He raises his eyebrows at me.
    “What do you mean?” I say delicately.
    “Oh geez, Ellie, I guess you didn’t notice… I’m in a wheelchair.” He gives me a mock sober expression. “A lot of people think I just shrunk or something.”
    “Okay, okay, I noticed,” I admit. “But you don’t have to tell me anything.”
    He shrugs. “It’ll save you the trouble of asking Google. Anyway, I broke my neck. Rock climbing. Damn twenty-three-year-olds, think they’re indestructible.”
    If he was twenty-three when this happened, that means he’s been disabled for over a decade. I guess that explains why he’s so comfortable wheeling himself around.
    “Anyway,” he says, his voice growing more formal, “this isn’t entirely a social call, although I admit it’s been fun. The truth is that there are going to be cutbacks here. Big ones. But I’d like to make the right decisions, and that’s why I need your help.”
    I nod, feeling slightly ill. If he makes me fire somebody, I may have to quit.
    “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t ask you to fire anyone,” Luke says, demonstrating he still has the ability to read my mind. “But I need your opinions. You’re smart, Ellie. In fact, I heard you went to Harvard.”
    I make a face at him. “You got a higher grade in expos than I did.” He got an A to my A-minus. He made a point of telling me.
    Luke grins. “I said you were smart. I didn’t say you were smarter than me.”
    I finally leave Luke’s office with an agreement to meet tomorrow for a working lunch to talk more about the cutbacks. Every time I close my eyes, I can see the image of Luke sitting in that wheelchair. I’m not quite sure how to feel about it all, but I’m beginning to get the sense that I was really wrong about Luke Thayer all those years ago.

Chapter Six
     
    I wear make-up again the next day and a dress rather than my usual comfortable pants suit, although I’m not entirely sure why. Even as I was applying the eyeliner and blinking away the little black specks that got into my eye, I wasn’t sure why I was making such an effort. I guess there’s a part of me that always sort of wants to impress Luke.
    Jenna immediately notices the difference. “You’re wearing make-up again,” she points out.
    “Yes,” I say. No comment.
    She narrows her eyes at me. “Are you having another meeting with Luke today?”
    “A working lunch,” I mumble.
    “He’s taking you to lunch?!” Jenna nearly screams.
    “Shush!” I say, my face turning red. “And it’s a business lunch. Totally business.”
    “Sure it is,” Jenna says, grinning at the look on my face. “Hey, I don’t blame you if he’s as cute as in the photos.”
    “He’s not,” I say. “Believe me.”
    “Well, he’s pretty fine in the pictures,” she says.
    “Look, Jenna,” I say patiently. “Lu… er, Mr. Thayer is… he’s… disabled. He’s in a wheelchair.”
    Jenna’s lips form a little O. “Oh my God! Are you serious?”
    “Yes.”
    “Wow,” she breathes. “Gosh, I had no idea.”
    And after that revelation, she doesn’t hint at me again that I might be interested in Luke. Which is good because, you know, I’m not.
    Luke told me to come to his office at noon, so I arrive at 11:55, hoping he won’t comment on how anally punctual I always am. I can’t help but notice that his assistant Michelle is freaking gorgeous. She’s got that blonde, slim but curvy, tall physique, like all the girls I used to see Luke with in college. She’s also got to be