The next day Alan drove Clare into the city centre to buy her an engagement ring. This time she chose a solitaire diamond ring, in yellow gold, with a pretty engraving either side on the shoulders. It was extremely lovely and quite unique. That evening, they dined at an expensive restaurant and discussed their wedding. They visited Philip and Libby at their home in Bath at the weekend and had a very special time.

On Monday morning Alan and Clare travelled to the office together. Alan parked his BMW and they walked up the stairs. As they went through the end door they saw Angie walking towards them along the corridor. Today, her hair was piled up on top of her head and she looked extra lovely, in a bright blue, long sleeved dress.

"You two look happy, did you have a good time?" she asked.

Clare ran up to her.

"Yes! Look, we got engaged."

"Aah" screamed Angie. And they jumped up and down on the spot a few times. "Let me see the ring."

Clare held out her hand.

"Oh, it's so pretty." said Angie.

She hugged Clare and then turned her attention to Alan.

"You did it! You did it!" she cried as she hugged him, still jumping up and down.

"Hey, calm down Ange, you'll burst a blood vessel." said Alan laughing.

"Is Bob in?" asked Clare. "We're desperate to tell him."

"No, he's out all day. Something came up. He's left lots of files on your desk," she said looking at Alan. "Things to sort through."

Alan went into his office and Angie and Clare into theirs. As Clare set about sorting out her morning's work at her desk, Angie began talking.

"A lot has happened these last few days, since you went away. Jessica and Mark are going out together now, can you believe it? She's toned herself down quite a bit, you'll see a difference. I never would have put those two together, would you?" Angie paused as she turned on her computer.

"You won't believe this Clare, not in a million years...Sean owned up to doing the picture of Bob with the blue caterpiller eyebrows. He's found another job, so thought he'd come clean before he left! Ha, ha. I nearly died when Bob told me. Bob wasn't at all angry about it, that was the funniest thing of all. I think he's much happier since Gary left and it seems he likes having his eyebrows trimmed!"

They both started to giggle.

"It makes you wonder what's going to happen next." said Clare. "But I'm so glad that mystery is cleared up. I suspected Alan for a while and I'm so pleased it wasn't!"

Clare told Angie about the fire, which dampened her spirits for all of ten minutes. Angie was so excited she was on a high all day long. She kept singing "I'm getting married in the morning." It was just as well Bob was out of the office and there wasn't much work to do. Everyone else in the office was happy to hear their good news too, when they found out, especially Geoff, who was almost as excited as Angie!

There was another reason Angie was happy. She told Clare she and Matthew wanted to start a family. Clare was very pleased for them both, but she promised Angie she wouldn't tell another soul, including Alan. It was a secret, for now.