La bandeja equivocada

At eight thirty, Lucía walked into the corner bakery-café, where the window display gleamed with chocolate pastries and warm loaves. She ordered two coffees with milk and a tray of mini croissants for the studio meeting; she paid for it by card and waited by the counter. When Clara, the new waitress, came out with the tray, a man in a hurry took it, thinking it was his. Lucía looked at the receipt among the napkins and asked gently, “Sorry, Clara, did you put it aside for me behind the coffee machine?” Clara went pale when she saw the empty table. “No, I’m sorry, I gave it to the man in the blue coat.” Lucía hesitated between demanding another free tray or waiting fifteen minutes for more to be baked, because they were already waiting for her at the studio. Clara went pale when she saw the empty table. “No, I’m sorry, I gave it to the man in the blue coat.” Lucía hesitated between demanding another free tray or waiting fifteen minutes for more to be baked, because they were already waiting for her at the studio. The owner, who had heard everything, said, “The mistake was ours; we’ll make them now, and the coffees are on us.” Lucía accepted on one condition: if the confused customer came back, they wouldn’t embarrass him in front of everyone. Ten minutes later, the man came back with the box almost full and said, “I grabbed them without looking; I’m really sorry.”