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    Out of Disaster: Holiday Romances, #0
    Out of Disaster: Holiday Romances, #0
    Out of Disaster: Holiday Romances, #0
    Ebook292 pages4 hours

    Out of Disaster: Holiday Romances, #0

    By Meyari McFarland

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    About this ebook

    A summer vacation in an American park turned life and death for Jiro and his friends. They alone survived.

    Decades later, the fortune Jiro's lost family had left rediscovered him.

    Garret Hampton offered Jiro a whole new world, money and power beyond his wildest dreams.

    All Jiro wanted was Garret himself. If only the whole world wasn't in their way.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMeyari McFarland
    Release dateNov 15, 2018
    ISBN9781386908432
    Out of Disaster: Holiday Romances, #0
    Author

    Meyari McFarland

    Meyari McFarland has been telling stories since she was a small child. Her stories range from SF and Fantasy adventures to Romances but they always feature strong characters who do what they think is right no matter what gets in their way. Her series range from Space Opera Romance in the Drath series to Epic Fantasy in the Mages of Tindiere world. Other series include Matriarchies of Muirin, the Clockwork Rift Steampunk mysteries, and the Tales of Unification urban fantasy stories, plus many more. You can find all of her work on MDR Publishing's website at www.MDR-Publishing.com.

    Read more from Meyari Mc Farland

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      Book preview

      Out of Disaster - Meyari McFarland

      Out of Disaster

      Out of Disaster

      Landslide Romances #1

      Meyari McFarland

      MDR Publishing

      Contents

      1. Landslide

      2. New Assignment

      3. Phone Call

      4. Call Back

      5. Meeting

      6. Family Outrage

      7. Narita Express

      8. Paparazzi Swarm

      9. Morning Earthquake

      10. Fitting

      11. New Rules

      12. Shopping

      13. Comfort

      14. Memories Returned

      15. Christmas Lights

      16. Near Miss

      17. Going Home

      18. Board Meeting

      19. Final Test

      20. New Path

      21. Surprise Visit

      22. Dinner

      23. Library Revelations

      24. Evening Ramble

      25. Akihabara Shops

      26. Building Structure

      27. Running Errands

      28. Press Conference

      29. Family Dinner

      30. Ever After

      Other Romance Books by Meyari McFarland:

      Author's Note: Clash of Lines

      1. Chance Encounter

      2. Battle Worthy

      Afterword

      Author Bio

      Other Romance Books by Meyari McFarland:

      Matriarchies of Muirin:

      Coming Together

      Fitting In

      Following the Beacon

      The Solace of Her Clan

      Debts to Recover:

      The Nature of Beasts

      Assumptions of Debt

      The Manor Verse:

      A New Path

      Following the Trail

      Crafting Home

      Finding a Way

      Go Between

      Like Arrows of Fate

      The Drath Verse

      Clash of Lines

      Joining of Lines

      Consort of the Crystal Palace

      Fragments of a Chain

      Stranded With You

      Reunited Hearts

      A Simple Life

      You can find these and many other books at www.MDR_Publishing.com. Sign up for our newsletter there and get updates on the latest releases plus a free book!

      Copyright ©2017 by Mary Raichle

      Cover image

      © Photographerlondon | Dreamstime.com -

      Businessman Against Reflective Wall With Eyes Closed Photo

      © Donfink | Dreamstime.com - Saint Marys Lake At Glacier National Park Photo

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

      Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be emailed to publisher@mdr-publishing.com.

      This book is also available in TPB format from all major retailers.

      Created with Vellum Created with Vellum

      This story is dedicated to my husband for being the perfect guide and fact checker. This book wouldn't exist if it weren't for you.

      1. Landslide

      Jiro caught Kenji's elbow. His fingers slipped on the lime green windbreaker Kenji wore. He clutched harder, yanking so that he could pull Kenji back and smack a hand against his shoulder tagging him. Kenji shouted, his grin as wide as the sky overhead, as he twisted to escape the tag. Their feet tangled together and they both collapsed into the grass .

      Jiro tried not to. Mama said to stay out of the mud before he went out to play in the park with his new friends. But Kenji caught the center of Jiro's flannel shirt as he fell, toppling Jiro on top of him.

      Baka! Jiro shouted, laughed and then screamed as Kenji rolled them though the muddy grass, clipped short, into the long, tall grass that hid the slope down to the river.

      Such a big river, wild and wide with rapids that were bigger and longer than Jiro was tall. Papa had forbidden them all from going down to the water without an adult. Too dangerous if the rain made the river rise. So much rain on this vacation, all day and all night and for three days previous. They'd done every inside game anyone had from Monopoly that was hard to translate into three different languages to Hanafuda, which Miguel and Adam had found confusing, to Uno which turned vicious so Mama had taken the cards away after one too many rounds of them crying because they had to pick up a stack of cards and skip a turn at once.

      But today there was no rain. It was blue skies and damp grass and mud everywhere but no rain at all so Mama had sent Jiro out to play and he'd gone happy to do anything but sit inside. Vacations shouldn't be inside all the time, especially when you went halfway around the world to one of the prettiest parks in all of America.

      So what if Jiro didn't know anyone? And couldn't speak English. And none of the other kids would play with him. He was outside and he had three new friends and the mud wasn't that bad. Probably.

      Miguel skidded to a stop, laughing down at them only to scream as Adam ran into him and sent him into the pile as well. The grass stood tall around them, high overhead. Even when he stood up the grass was as tall as he was. Papa had said that grass in the park, away from their row of little log cabins set at the base of a steep soggy hill covered with towering pine trees that smelled like winter and New Year's celebrations, was allowed to grow as tall as it wanted instead of being trimmed short the way it was back home.

      Mama had shaken her head at Papa's explanations and smiled, encouraging Jiro to go play.

      To make friends.

      It was hard. Everyone here spoke English. Jiro didn't. Neither did Kenji. He spoke Japanese like Jiro so that was good. His Japanese was slow and drawling. Kenji was from Kyoto while Jiro was from Tokyo. The differences between their Japanese weren't a big problem, not compared to talking to the others.

      Miguel was from Mexico so he spoke Spanish but he knew a little bit of English. Just enough to say 'please' and 'thank you' and find out when lunch was. Adam was an actual American. He was from Seattle, though, not Montana. His skin was dark as night. Miguel was darker, too, but not that dark. They both seemed very dark compared to Eijiro and Kenji but all four of them were too different for the American children in the park who had skin as pale as paper and blond, blond hair with pale eyes that looked bleached out.

      They'd ignored Jiro when he tried to make friends. That was part of how he'd found Kenji and then Adam and then finally Miguel. All of them pulled together because none of the other kids would play with them. Even if they couldn't really talk to each other at least they could play chase and laugh and splash each other in the cold, cold water of the lake.

      And over the last week and a half they'd taught each other enough of their languages that they could have fun together. Not real sentences but enough. It was good. Jiro was going to learn perfect English so he could write Adam every week. And he was going to learn Spanish too, so he could write Miguel. He'd wanted to go straight home after they got here, after the other kids refused to play with him, but now he wanted to stay forever.

      Instead, he had to go home in three more days and he wouldn't see his three best friends again for ages. If ever.

      Omoi…! Kenji complained, shoving at Jiro when he clung to Kenji.

      Huh? Adam asked. What's that word?

      Heavy! Kenji huffed.

      That only made Jiro laugh as he tried to lie even more heavily on top of Jiro. Miguel snickered and did the same. He got the meaning even without knowing the word. Adam grinned at them and then pulled Miguel and Jiro off when Kenji whined.

      Up, Adam said, tugging at them.

      He tugged hard. Really hard. Much harder than he should have. Except no, that wasn't Adam. The ground was shaking. Kenji clutched at Jiro while Miguel started shouting something in Spanish. The ground roared and then the shaking was so hard that all Jiro could do was cling to Miguel and Adam while Kenji clutched at him.

      Too long, too long! The jishin, earthquake, was too long. They should be short, shaking a few seconds, rattling things and then the building swayed and you hid under your desk and then it was over until Teacher said that it was safe to get out but this wasn't over. It went on and on and the sound got louder and louder until the air was filled with dust and Jiro screamed until his throat hurt. Something smacked into them, all four of them. It was big and hard and knocked them away into the grass and then down the slope towards the mud along the river bank that Mama and Papa had said to stay away from. Not into the water but close enough that the roar of the water mixed with sound of the earthquake shaking the world.

      Not an earthquake. Not. Too big, too loud, too much dust and mud and the sound of something wet flowing but Jiro couldn't see. Not water, sloppy sounds like mud and rocks crashing together and if a mountain fell then that was what it would sound like. It smelled like dirt, like when Mama dug deep into the garden to plant something. Wet and dark and dangerous in ways that made Jiro scream even though he couldn't hear his voice above the loud around them.

      Something cracked and fell, big and dark. Another something cracked and Jiro realized that trees were snapping, breaking like toothpicks as they fell. He saw the ones closest to the slope sway and then jerk and then the dark something, the wet loud something that was filling the world with dust, shoved the trees right over.

      They toppled like flags tipped over by bad boys back home, frothy tops snapping and flailing against the blue sky before the crackled and crunched and slow-fast came down.

      Right at them.

      Down! Adam screamed, the word seen, not heard, on his face and in his wide eyes and felt in the way his hands grabbed them.

      He shoved all of them down into the mud, pushed them back towards the slope. Jiro pulled at Miguel who was frozen. Then Kenji helped and all four of them rolled through the mud to the base of the slope just as the trees toppled at them.

      The loud of the earthquake that wasn't an earthquake died into creaking and slopping sounds, like mud being thrown into a rice paddy in the spring. Now there was the sound of wood cracking and groaning, of branches shifting like a Shinto priest's robes, shh-shh-shhhhh-crackle. Pop. Crackle and shhhh.

      Then silence.

      Jiro stayed still, shaking, his arms around Miguel and Kenji's around him while Adam lay on top of all three of them. He waited, listened, shook and then licked his lip. Mud. Tears like salt. Maybe blood? He didn't know. Didn't blood taste like metal? When he'd gotten a bloody nose a year ago after tripping on the playground his blood had tasted that way.

      Eventually he lifted his head and looked around.

      They were in a nest of branches, broken, dark as night, scratchy. It smelled like concentrated New Year, like the little displays that Papa put up in front of their house. Except all around them and too many, so many, all of them right there around him filling his nose until he wanted to throw up.

      Kenji cried into Jiro's shoulder while Miguel panted and Adam pressed all them closer into the mud. Adam's hand shook against Jiro's head. So much dust. So wet. He shook and held on until their shaking stopped a long, long, long time later. Forever. It felt like forever. But it wasn't, was it?

      Stay still… Adam whispered once the fear shaking stopped and the too cold and wet shaking started.

      Kowai, Kenji whimpered into Jiro's shoulder.

      Scary, Jiro agreed. That was one word he'd learned. Miguel's insistence on diving into the lake had taught all of them that word. His Mama had yelled it and Adam's Papa had laughed as he translated the scolding for everyone else.

      They stayed still, listening to the creaking of the broken trees until the smell of sap and pine filled Jiro's mind with the smell of fear. No one yelled. Mama didn't shout. Adam's Papa didn't show up to shove branches away and pull them to safety. Miguel's Mama wasn't there to scold them about the mud while Kenji's Mama clutched her cheeks at how filthy they all were.

      Adam? Jiro asked.

      Yeah? Adam said. His face wasn't really visible in the dark under their pile of broke trees but Jiro thought he was pale.

      Can see? Jiro asked. Ano, outside? Mama not yell. Why? Where Mama to Papa? And. And Papa.

      Don't know, Adam said and now Jiro could hear the fear. I should hear my Ma, too. Stay still. I'll look.

      But he couldn't. The trees had them trapped in a muddy cave made of shattered trees and branches. So all four of them had to push the branches aside. Jiro was smallest though Kenji was youngest at just barely five. Jiro was almost six. He was supposed to start school next year. Miguel at six and a half and Adam at not quite seven were biggest. They pulled the branches open and Kenji pushed Jiro up and through the gap. He stomped on branches and pushed until Kenji could come, too. They held the gap open for Miguel and all three of them got Adam out into a slightly lighter cave of tree trunks and branches.

      They had to do it four more times, whining and sweating and crying, before they made it to the top of the slope where their families should be. Adam's parents had a camper, a big thing the size of an apartment back home in Tokyo, while Miguel and Kenji and Jiro's parents had cabins one after the other.

      Jiro rubbed his palms against his muddy pants, trying to get the sticky, horrible sap off his hands. It didn't work. Kenji leaned against his side, shaking, teeth chattering, so Jiro hugged him. Miguel did, too. His teeth weren't chattering but his lips were very blue and his eyes didn't seem to see anyone. Anything.

      Only Adam seemed to see anything.

      Jiro couldn't… quite connect what the world looked like with what had been there before the earthquake. Where were the cabins made of logs? Where was Adam's camper with the circle of lawn chairs around the iron fire place that they hadn't been allowed to use because of the rain?

      Gone.

      There was mud and rock and broken chunks of tree sticking out of the mud as far as Jiro could see. No buildings. No road. Nothing that Jiro recognized. The other side of the river beyond the dangerous rapids was okay, trees and moss and normal things. But their side was gone, replaced by mud. So much mud.

      He wished and wished for everything to go back the way it was but when he opened his eyes nothing had changed. All there was in front of him was mud, mud, mud and rocks and shattered trees. No Mama. No Papa. No trailer or cabins or ranger in his big green pickup truck or even the mean white kids with their parents and apartment-sized RV's.

      All gone, every one of them, buried under the mud.

      Buried.

      Tears blurred the world. Buried. His Mama and Papa and everyone else's parents were buried. Buried meant dead. Papa had explained that after Jiro's hamster died. Buried was gone, not coming back, not ever, no matter how you asked or wished or prayed or how good you were.

      Landslide, Adam said and his voice was too harsh, too old as he came to hug them, to pull them close as if he needed to be held more than they did. It was a landslide.

      What means that? Miguel asked as he turned to hug Adam tight.

      The mountain fell down, Adam said. It fell down and destroyed everything.

      Kenji shuddered, hugging Adam, too. The three of them sat down in the muddy remnants of grass, staring out at the changed world. Jiro stood. Stayed standing.

      Mountain fell. The mountain. It fell. On Mama and Papa and their families and all the rich white children who wouldn't play with them. When a building fell people died. Papa and Teacher at kindergarten both said so. Teacher had shown pictures, movies, about earthquakes were bad things happened. Like this. If you survived there were things you were supposed to do.

      Must get safe, Jiro said. He turned to Adam who was oldest if most scared of adults of the four of them. Must get safe. Maybe more falls. Not safe here. Must get safe, Adam. Too cold. Too wet. Need safe place.

      Adam swallowed and nodded. Ranger station is up the way. We can walk. If the bridge isn’t gone we can cross it and get help for everyone else.

      Yes, help, Jiro agreed even though he knew, knew right down to his freezing cold toes, that there would be no help for Mama and Papa. Must get help. All four. Together.

      Miguel's bottom lip wobbled but he nodded after a second. His lip was swollen and bruised, just like his cheek. Kenji's head had a cut that seeped blood down his forehead into his eyes but he nodded. He'd learned about disasters just like Jiro. And Adam who had bruises blooming over his arms and neck and face, Adam nodded, too.

      Lead the way, Adam said as he helped Kenji and Miguel stand. I'll make sure we all stay together.

      Jiro's stomach lurched at the thought of leading but yes, someone needed to and Adam had Miguel and Kenji's hands in his. So he couldn't lead. That left Jiro. He could do that. He would. Mama and Papa had always told him to be strong and take care of people, to be kind and open and generous.

      So. Scared?

      Yes.

      Hurt?

      Oh yes, in so many ways that he was only just noticing as he started to walk along the edge of the mass of mud and rock that had destroyed his life.

      But he would get them all to safety so that they could go home.

      2. New Assignment

      Garret breathed slowly as he marched away from his tiny desk set in one corner of four desks in the middle of the noisiest part of the floor. Eyes followed him as he made his way, bowing as he passed coworkers and superiors, towards Hasagawa Noriko's office. Getting called to her office was generally not a good thing. She was the disciplinarian of Ouchi, Hasagawa and Associates and Garret had never been called to her office before .

      Everyone had to be wondering what he'd done to get in trouble.

      He would be calm. He would be controlled. He would be certain of himself but not overbearing. Four years at the law firm had taught him the value of confident bearing even when he felt like curling up into a ball.

      The largest problem he had, always, was how very non-Japanese he looked. Brown hair verging towards blond, hazel eyes and pale skin would always mark him as an outsider even though he'd been born in Japan of Japanese parents. His mother was half British, though, and he took after his maternal grandparents rather than his father's side of the family. It really was only the shape of his eyes that showed his Japanese ancestry.

      How many times a day did people praise his Japanese as if he was a fresh off the plane foreigner? Less lately, since he started working at Ouchi, Hasagawa and Associates, but it still happened at least two or three times a day at lunch and on the train. He'd never lived anywhere else and yet he was an outsider.

      Forever.

      Not the thoughts to harbor when dealing with Ms. Hasagawa.

      Garret cleared his mind of his worries, breathed deeply and then tapped on her door before carefully opening it halfway and stepping inside while calling 'excuse me'.

      Ms. Hasagawa ignored him.

      That was normal. A power play. Something that she did even to the president of the firm. Frankly, she was even more of an outsider at the law firm than Garret was simply because of her gender. Very few lawyers in Japan were women, and very few women over the age of thirty worked. They were too busy bearing and raising children for that.

      Hasagawa Noriko was fifty-three, with iron-black hair and the stark black skirt-suit of woman working in Japan. The skirts were nearly identical, straight and plain other than the occasional line of hand topstitching at the hem. Same for the jackets which might as well have been men's jackets. Her blouses varied between three shades: cream, pale blue and lavender, all so faint that they looked nearly white no matter what the lighting.

      He'd never seen her with a hair out of place or a run in her stockings.

      She intimidated the hell out of Garret, not only because she was kibishi, exceedingly strict, but also because he was completely certain that she could beat him to death and not break a sweat.

      He'd started taking Kendo and Iaido, Japanese sword fighting, shortly after joining the firm. Most of the younger associates did in an effort to make a name for themselves outside of work hours. Ms. Hasagawa was in his dojo. An instructor. The one who scared visiting instructors, beat everyone who went against her and who passed her fifth dan test on the first time.

      No one Garret knew passed their fifth dan Iaido test on the first try.

      It just didn't happen.

      The Iaido test was the second or third hardest test in all of Japan and there were people who came back to take the test, paying the non-refundable fee without protest, quarter after quarter for years. Without ever passing. She'd walked in, taken her test and he'd been there watching as he waited to take his own first dan test, and been so perfect that it took his breath away.

      Total and complete focus, absolute ferocity, and a true samurai demeanor: that was Ms. Hasagawa.

      So, he was perfectly content to stand in front of her desk until she decided that she'd notice his existence. It took a total of two minutes at which point she grunted and looked up at him. The lines on either side of her mouth deepened as she pursed her lips and scowled.

      Sit.

      Thank you very much, Garret said as he sat in the surprisingly comfortable leather chair opposite her desk.

      I have an assignment for you but you must make some changes before it will be officially offered to you, Ms. Hasagawa said. She jerked her chin towards him, eyes on his hair. Stop dying your hair.

      I… don't, Garret admitted as if the words had been pulled out of him with hooks. This is my natural color.

      Then start dying it, Ms. Hasagawa said. Her mouth pinched even further, making her look like she'd sucked on a lemon. "You need black hair if you're going to succeed with this one.

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