I'd not say I was a frequent visitor to the hospital cafeteria but the food, sandwiches, were very good and I expect must have been subsidized. Made fresh and fast as you waited and the coffee was also great so if I was in the area and hungry I'd head there. I confess I went more often after hearing the spanking I wrote about in the first part thinking I might see the mother. I knew her apartment block was popular with hospital staff.

The third time I went, after overhearing the spanking, I hit the jackpot. There she was, the mom! In a uniform I learned was a practical nurse. She was sitting with two others similarly dressed. I avoided the temptation to sit close and try to snoop. Rather I sat well away and watched. This was a Tuesday and I made a point of going the next Tuesday, also around 1pm and bingo. She showed up.

It wasn't until a month or so later it worked out. She was on her own. Place was busy. I went back up, through the line, got coffee, and headed over to the windows where she was and the other tables were full. "Do you mind if I join you ... have my coffee with some sunshine?" Then the voice, the mother's voice, "Please do. It is nice, isn't it? The sunshine." While it wasn't her angry voice I recognized it, Her comment about the sunshine gave a perfect opening to chat about the winter we'd had. I was careful to keep the conversation well away from anything personal.

The next week I saw her twice in the cafeteria and both time we smiled and gave a little wave to each other in passing. The following week I got there early, found a table for two away from the end of the food line but close enough if she came through she'd likely spot me. And she did. A smile, and I pushed it a bit by standing up as she finished paying and walking out into the sitting area. More smile from her and a "shall I join you?" and I said, "I'd like that."

It became a regular lunch for us on Tuesdays. Not every week, but often. I learned she was a single mom, her husband had left her with two young daughters when, out of nowhere to her at least, he decided he was going to Africa to find himself and hadn't been seen since! She learned my wife had died several years before in a car crash. We had no kids. I learned she was a practical nurse. She learned I was an owner of a fairly successful business. (The envelope I'd taken to her apartment was a delivery I'd made for my mother-in-law. A charity thrift shop she was associated with.)

If the whole spanking thing had never happened I'd be a lucky man to have met this practical nurse. We got on well, laughed, enjoyed each other's company and before long I asked her if she'd like to do dinner. She agreed. The fourth time we had dinner, nothing more at this point, she suggested when I came to pick her up I come up and meet her two daughters. They were curious, wanted to check out, who she was dating. I wondered if the younger one would recognize me. She didn't. The hellos were friendly, brief.

When we got to the car I said, "there's something I have to tell you. I've been at your apartment door before and talked briefly to your daughter. I was delivering an envelope for my mother-in-law." Then after a pause I said, "You were .... busy."

I didn't know what would happen next. She gasped and said, with a laugh, "Oh my god. Was that the day ... the day I ...." I said, "Well from what I heard you say before the door closed I think I know what you're referring to. That would be the day."

I didn't have to worry as she laughed and said, "Well you DO know more about me than I know about you. We won't run out of small talk over dinner, that's for sure!"