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Show All the Variables & Other Love Stories 113 she'd lied by claiming to herself that she did love him, but it was too exhausting now. Their affection was genuine and tender but not at all deep. Her connection to Cory was deeper, even if she hated him. Perhaps the reason their relationship had been so brief was precisely because it'd been so volatile. Neither Angie nor Cory had been able to function under the mutual feeding frenzy they'd wrought. When Patrick woke they had a long kissing session, and he proposed again. She declined again. Unfazed, Patrick threw Cleo in the air and caught her by the thighs. She giggled like a motor. She screamed at him her unquenchable love. They nuzzled one another, cooed into each others ears. Angie went to the kitchen and brought back a banana for Cleo's lunch. She softened it between her fingers and distractedly let the baby eat out of her palm, and they both were quickly covered in yellow drool thick as paste. "Angie! Hey!" Patrick gasped, and lunged, and he didn't need to explain; Angie could see Cleo had stopped breathing. She slumped forward like a sack among the blankets. Angie had only looked away a second but already that fact was beyond her comprehension. She held Cleo beneath the armpits but could not bear to pull the lolled head and blue lips to her body. Angie's senses drifted softly away from her as if exhaled. She couldn't move. Patrick grabbed the baby and sat her like a doll across his lap. He thumped Cleo's back as if keeping time, one, two, three. He put his ear to her mouth and laid her straight down the length of his forearm and thumped her back again. He made a sound like trapped vermin and trembled. He put Cleo on her back and crouched over her and sealed his mouth over her mouth and nose, and sucked. His back went rigid and he sat straight up on his knees, his head and shoulders thrust out as though he were emerging from |