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it happens there is,” said Ian quietly. “Will you marry me?”
    “Yes,” she said, without missing a beat. “Right now I can’t think of a thing I’d like to do more.”

Chapter 12
    The effect of the engagement was that for a couple of weeks Ian was so blissfully happy that Emma could do no wrong. Getting back late to the office from an all day inter-agency meeting he found that she had tidied his entire desk. Did he get angry that he couldn’t find anything? No, he just laughed, told her he had been meaning to tidy it for some time and kissed her.
    A few days later he noticed that every time he saw one of the Ad Girls they burst out laughing. Then he found out Emma had told them that when he was feeling stressed he liked to slap on one of her face masks, hop in the bath and read the latest issue of Glamour . Did Ian get mad? No, he just laughed, told the Ad Girls that even he had a girly side and kissed Emma. A week later Emma managed to convince the Out of Office Hours Social Committee that instead of bowling, followed by Nando’s, followed by 2-for-1 cocktails in Henry J. Beans (like they did every month) they should go and see Mamma Mia at the Alexandra Theatre. Did Ian scream at the top of his voice that he didn’t like musicals and certainly not with Abba songs? No, he just laughed, sang a couple of lines from “ Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man after Midnight)” and kissed her. But then one day Emma did something so terrible that he couldn’t laugh about it, find a witty line or even kiss her.
    The Annual Policy Planning Department Away Day was Ian’s favourite day of the year. He knew it was crazy but, secretly, he loved it more than Christmas. He loved it more than New Year’s Eve. In fact Ian loved it more than Christmas and New Year’s Eve rolled into one. On the surface it was an overnight stay in a posh seaside hotel for twenty-four hours of team-building, workshops and the odd lecture from a government minister. The truth of the matter was that it pretty much always ended up being one long party.
    In previous years, Ian had seen senior managers getting off with waitresses at the hotel and Amar being sick out of the window of a sixth floor hotel room. Then there was the year a middle-aged woman from Bought Ledger streaked naked through the hotel lobby screaming, “Look at me! I’m a fairy!”
    In the past six years alone they had been banned from three different venues in Bournemouth, had an official telling off from a junior minister and once even made the front page of a local newspaper.
    This year was meant to be the best year ever by a mile. Amar and the Ad Girls missed all the workshops and spent all day on the beach. The department director and a member of Senior Management got into a yelling match in the hotel lobby. Two members of the strategy team were sent home early for crimes so awful no one would even say what they were. And half of the Forward Planning Team were told they would be getting written warnings after a party in a fourth-floor bedroom that didn’t finish until the police arrived at just after eight in the morning. It really was an Away Day to beat all other Away Days.
    Not for Ian though. He missed the beach because Emma wouldn’t skip any of the workshops. He missed the two members of the strategy team being sent home because at the time Emma wanted a cuddle on the bed while watching Neighbours . And he missed the Forward Planning Team’s all-night party because right after dinner, as everyone was getting ready to hit the bars of Bournemouth, Emma asked Ian to come back to the room because she had a headache. That was the last straw. He could put up with a lot from Emma but not spoiling his last night in Bournemouth. Worse, having made him promise not to leave her alone, she had promptly fallen asleep.
    The next morning Ian was still angry. And the following night too. But when he woke up the third morning at six and found his anger still there, he knew he had to do