Page 150 of Oh, Flutz!

“We couldn’t have done this without you,” Katya tells them, and Lian pats her on the arm, standing up and collecting all our jackets.

“Katya, honey, I didn’t do anything. You and Mr. Golden Retriever over here deserve all the credit.” Lian reaches for both of us. “I’m so proud of you two. I knew you could do it.”

Yeah, okay, maybe I’m crying.

“Only you two would have your first real kiss on live television,” Ollie says once we get out of the kiss-and-cry and where the rest of our group is waiting for us.

He’s shaking his head, doing a pretty bad job at pretending to be disdainful considering he’s got the Oliver Kwan Shit-Eating Grin on his face. “You absolutedog, Young. What would your mother say?”

“Dude, I’m not even listening to you right now,” I say, my own grin stretching impossibly bigger. I haven’t been able to stop smiling for the last hour. This is the best day of my life. And not because of the gold, but because I’m here at all. Becauseshe’shere at all.

We made it, both of us. Together.

Chapter Fifty-Three

KATYA

“We've got a surprisefor you,” Bryan says, doing an extremely poor job of fighting the smile on his face.

“Don’t tell me. You made a cake with our faces on it?”

“Not quite.” The sound of a male voice behind me saying those words makes my eyes go round.Oh my god. I’d know that cigarette voice anywhere. I whip around, and standing right there is my family. My mother and grandfather and Mikhail.

“Mama!” I shriek, and tackle her with a hug, and I can hear her laugh despite the fact that I’ve buried my face in her curls and I can’t see much of anything.

“Ay, Katya, you’re going to choke me to death,” she exclaims, still laughing, and I don’t even care that I’m crying a little bit, because my heart feels like it’s about to burst.They’re here. They came.

“What are we, chopped liver,malyshka?” Dedushka protests, and I immediately rush over, pulling him in.

“How—why—” I pull away, lost for words, still in shock, and Misha grins.

“We caught a flight. Duh.”

I’m not in too much shock to smack him, so I do.“Durak. Don’t be a fool. Why didn’t you tell me sooner that you were coming?”

“Well, that would ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it?” Mama protests, and Dedushka barks a laugh.

“We had to make sure you were going to win before we decided,obviously. We wouldn’t fly ten hours otherwise.”

I huff, and he and Misha both howl with laughter. “I don’t know why I missed you so much. All you do is bully me.” My face breaks back out in a smile anyway.“Thank you for coming.” I’m crying again, like a fool, but then I laugh and dive back in for another hug. “Oh my god, I’m so glad you’re here.”

Mama strokes the back of my head, pressing a kiss to my forehead and cupping my face with her hands, smiling at me, and it’s like looking into a mirror. This woman is everything I ever want to be. “Ya tebya lyublyu.I love you so much, Katenka. I’ve always been so proud of you. I hope you know that.”

I hiccup, just a tiny bit, and I let the tears stream down my face, but I’m smiling so big I barely notice.She’s proud of me.“I love you too.”

Dedushka ruffles the top of my head, or tries to, because I have about a pound of gel matted in my hair. “Lord, what did you do to yourself? It’s hard as a rock!”

Mama and I make eye contact, then double over in laughter all over again.

“Yes, yes, make fun of the old man.” Dedushka points a finger at me. “Just because you’re now American national champion does not mean you’re too good for your grandfather.”

I grin at him. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Well.” He’s clearly pleased, not that he’d say so. He adjusts the collar of his button-down before producing a bouquet of flowers out from nowhere. “Here. I nearly forgot. Congratulations,moya svezda.”

That nickname used to make me sick with worry. It always reminded me of the debt I owed my family, to shine for them, make them proud. I thought I’d never be able to repay them, so I threw myself into what I thought would let me at least try.

But they don’t want me to succeed for the wrong reasons. They don’t want their love to be a burden. My grandfather doesn’t call me his star because of the gold medals.

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