“Well. I’ve been standing here waiting for close to ten minutes for housekeeping to bring me more towels. I asked them yesterday to leave extra and instead they only left one!”

“I’m so sorry. I’ll get you more towels myself. I’ll be right back.” Paula went down the hall, around the corner to the laundry room and grabbed four towels that were still warm from the dryer. She added a handful of chocolates, too, and walked back to the woman as fast as she could. She was still standing in the doorway, glaring at Paula as she approached.

“Here you go. Again, I’m so sorry for the delay.” She handed over the towels and the woman’s expression softened when she saw the chocolates.

“Thank you. And thank you for the chocolates, too. We’ve been coming here for years and nothing like this has ever happened before.”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. Please accept my apologies.”

“It’s fine. Thank you for taking care of it yourself.”

Paula reached into her pocket and pulled out a coupon for two free drinks at the outside bar and gave it to the woman. “Please have a drink on us as well.”

That brought a smile to her face. “Thank you very much.”

Paula turned to go and almost bumped into David. She hadn’t heard him walk up behind her. He stayed quiet until the woman shut her door and they were halfway down the hall.

“Housekeeping screwed up?”

“Apparently.”

“So, what will you do about it?”

“I need to go talk to them, of course.”

“Right. Mind if I tag along?”

“Of course not.”

They walked down another hall and saw two housekeeping trolleys outside rooms. Paula knocked lightly on the doors and asked each cleaner to step into the hall for a moment. One woman, Marie, had been with the hotel for years. The other one, Michelle, was relatively new, and much younger.

“I was just walking down the hall and there was a woman in room 200 that was waiting for extra towels that never came. And she said her room was short on towels. Do either of you know what might have happened?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t. I didn’t have that room,” Marie said.

“I did. I screwed up. I was supposed to get her those towels and totally forgot. I’m sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry, though. She sounded disinterested.

“Okay, well, please be more careful. That’s not supposed to happen in a place like this.”

“Got it,” she said.

Paula smiled at Marie. “I heard you just got a new grandchild?”

Marie’s eyes lit up. “Yes!” She reached into her pocked and pulled out a photo of an adorable baby and handed it to Paula.