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not with Oscar.
    Sachi closed her eyes. Goddess, please give me strength and hope and faith and wisdom to do what I need to do and get through this. If there’s anything to get through. So mote it be.
     
    * * * *
     
    Sachi’s dad gave her a strange look as he walked around the counter when he arrived to pick her up. “Are you feeling okay, Miki?”
    “Yeah, sure. Why?”
    He studied her. “You look…different.”
    “I changed clothes for my lessons.”
    He frowned at her. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
    “I’m fine, Daddy. Let me get my purse.”
    “You sure?”
    “I’m sure.”
    “Then what happened?”
    That was the only drawback to having her dad there all the time. He had a keen eye for her moods. “We have a new investigation on Sunday.”
    His frown darkened. “Is it safe?”
    “Yes, very. A lovely woman in her late seventies. In fact, coincidentally, the aunt of the guy who fixed the water heater.” She headed for the office to grab her purse from the cabinet.
    “Oh.” The clouds cleared in his expression. “Okay then.”
    Whew. The last thing she wanted to do was have that conversation with her dad. He’d been really good about not asking her those kinds of personal questions. Let’s not ruin a great run.
    Fortunately, she was able to completely put all thoughts of John Evans out of her mind during her skeet lessons. The first was a fifteen-year-old girl who’d been shooting for several months and showed a lot of promise. Sachi had to teach her international style for her competitions, and it was fun to watch her student make progress.
    Even more fun was how her supportive parents sat under the shelter with her own dad, chatting and cheering their daughter on.
    Her other student was an older man who’d shot trap for a number of years and now wanted to switch to skeet. Fortunately, he was an easy student and had the basic mechanics down.
    By the time she finished a little after seven, she was ready for dinner. They had to stop by the grocery store on the way home. When they reached Publix, her dad took a cart and went one way while Sachi went another. She wanted to hit their bakery to satisfy a massive donut craving.
    Her dad silently tsked but didn’t chastise her for it. As she homed in on the donuts, the rest of the world disappeared.
    Dooonuuuts…
    That’s why she wasn’t paying attention when she accidentally bumped into a guy who was carrying a hand basket. She turned to apologize, her throat locking up, the words seizing before they could pass her vocal cords.
    Dark brown hair and devastatingly blue eyes, the hunk looked like he clocked in around five eleven.
    And he also had a gorgeous blue aura surrounding him.
    Fucking Goddess, what the hell are you doing to me?
    He offered her an apologetic smile. “Sorry.” He reached for a box of donuts on the display table.
    She rapidly nodded as she tried to pry words from her throat, finally managing an, “Uh-huh.”
    He put the box of donuts in his basket. “They’re pretty good, huh?”
    She nodded again. “Yeah.” Smile, idiot! She managed one and hoped it didn’t make her look like a manic female, half-Japanese version of Sheldon Cooper.
    What were the damn odds? She glanced around. No one else within sight bore the same deep, beautiful blue aura he did, nearly identical to the one John Evans sported.
    “Well, have a nice evening,” he said with a friendly smile.
    She nodded harder, eventually coaxing, “Thanks. You, too,” out of her throat.
    She stood there, watching him walk away and head for a checkout line when she finally mentally kicked herself.
    You dumb bitch! There was a perfect opportunity to turn on the snarky charm and maybe take the chance Mandaline was completely right that she should take.
    And she’d blown it.
    Grabbing a box of glazed donuts, she started to step away from the table when she grabbed a second one as well and stormed off to find her dad.
     
    * * * *
     
    Oscar tried to slow