Hi. This is my first post, having lurked for a while. Just wanted to add my vote of confidence to cats. Maybe it's because mine were stray street cats once, but they're all three of them very affectionate ... admittedly sometimes for food but not always!
With regard to whether Dale should be bragging and whether he should be so open about what's happened, Faye and the others have been pretty involved in Marigold and Dale getting together one way and another (witnessing key events, talking to them each individually about it) so I don't think it would be a terrible breach of confidence. That said, I can imagine MarBear going one of two ways - totally over the top excited and proud, or very embarrassed, which might lead to problems.
And as a currently single girl, I have to say that women can be *that girl*. I don't know if it's a British thing, but a certain amount of smugness among friends is allowed - even expected!