“I thought you said you wanted a kid.” Brandon plopped the chubby little brown-eyed toddler into her lap.

“Yeah, but…” Marie looked nervous. She ran her fingers through the boy’s curly brown hair.

“But what?”

Marie lowered her voice to a whisper. “I didn’t know you were gonna steal one.”

Sara Jacobelli lives in New Orleans, where she tries to avoid vampires, Bourbon Street and tourists.