"Which means drop it, Alex."

"Jesus, fine."

"Sorry again," he says. "I think it's Isabella's turn to pick a conversation topic."

"I'll be going home for Easter break, do you want to come along?"

"I'd love to!"

"I'll tell Renée to hide extra eggs."

"That sounds fun, I've never been egg-hunting."

"We're honestly a little old for it but it's fun."

"Pfff, no such thing."

"I look forward to watching you grab eggs out from under bushes when you're ninety."

"And look twenty-five."

"Right, that. I want in on that."

"That can probably be arranged."

"Yes, I do think I said I wanted to make everyone immortal? But until then I'm not above nepotism."

"Nepotism! It will get me everywhere!"

"You'll still have to work."

"This might be a flaw in my plan."

"Might want a plan B, there."

"I will become a traveling salesperson and convince people they need encyclopedias. There's a profession that never goes out of date and you can set your own hours."

"The internet is a thing, and likely to become even more of a thing in the future."

"This is news to me, because I have never heard of sarcasm and was definitely serious about selling encyclopedias for a living."

"I was just ruining your joke."

"Make him behave," Alex says, again pointing at Sadde.

"It is not nice to ruin people's jokes, pet."

He giggles. "Sorry, Alex."