Last week, Tony and I planned on having a relaxing date night. We couldn’t have predicted the startling event that was about to unfold.

After a casual dinner, Tony suggested that we stop at a coffee shop on the way home. It was a new, family-run place, and I had been wanting to check it out over the past several weeks. As we walked inside, I was immediately drawn to the cozy decor and inviting setup of the room. I couldn’t wait to order a drink and sink into the large tan couch by the door.

Even though the sign indicated that this coffee shop was still open, there was no one inside. While we waited for someone to come out and take our order, I spent a few moments browsing the display shelves. The shop had a variety of colorful gifts and inspirational nonfiction books for sale.

All of a sudden, we were startled by a loud alarm. Tony was standing right by it, and as you can see in the video below, he jumped more than I did. By “breaking in” through that unlocked door, we had set off the burglar alarm.

Out in the parking lot, we hesitated for a moment, wondering if we should wait for the cops to show up. But, instead, we followed our gut response to situation, which was to get in our car and drive away as quickly as possible.

A few days later, we actually went back. We were sharing a car for the week, and I needed Tony to drop me off at a place that had wi-fi. Since this particular coffee shop was the closest one to our house, we decided to give it another try. This time we went during the afternoon.

The man behind the counter was friendly, the iced coffee that I ordered was delicious, and we sank into that comfortable tan couch that I had noticed the other night. But right before Tony got up to drive to a meeting, a woman walked over to us, slowly. She looked nervous, and she hesitated for a moment before saying, “We recognized you.”

They had watched the security camera footage from the other night, and she had recognized us as the accidental culprits.

The woman told us that she had actually been praying that we would come back–so that she could apologize for what happened. Apparently, they had needed to leave the coffee shop early the other night, and in scrambling to leave, she and her husband had swapped some duties and gotten confused about who was supposed to lock that particular door.

After apologizing to us several times, the woman thanked us for saving them from a “real robbery” and offered to show us the security cam footage. She had recorded the best part of the footage onto her phone, and she admitted–with a slightly guilty smile–that she had already shared it with her sister. (You can hear her comment to her sister in the video.)