Quaking on the inside at the pure power in your voice, I did exactly as you asked. With my head hung low, I lowered to all fours and crawled towards the bathroom. I knew with a dreaded sense of certainty that I had disappointed and I was ashamed of myself for my failure. I wondered what I could do to make it up to you and dissolve the hardened edge to your voice.

Kneeling up, I reached for the stopper and secured it in the tub before turning on the hot water, running my hand underneath the steady stream to test it. Satisfied that it was heating up quickly, I kneeled back on my haunches again and took a moment to look around the bathroom.

It was, as was the rest of the house I had seen, absolutely superb. Every luxury imaginable to me was available from a range of decorative displays, spread out around the room. Smiling, I snuck a peek over my shoulder into the other room. I could see you there, but could not tell if you were looking at me. Better not to chance it, I thought, as my mind put together the finishing touches on what I thought was a splendid plan to rectify my poor behaviour thus far.

Returning to all fours, I crawled across the room to a basket of towels and selected three large, fluffy bath towels and a hand cloth. Holding them in my hands, I walked on my knees back to the tub. I laid one out as a bath mat and arranged the other two on the rim of the tub, with the hand cloth on top so they would be easily accessible to you. Looking around the room again, I picked my next target and headed, crawling to the cabinet in the corner. Opening it, I eyed the array of items and carefully selected an assortment of scented oils and lotions and returned to the tub with them. Once I had them displayed in easy reach of the tub, I scurried off again, this time to the counter near the sinks. I returned with 5 candles of varying sizes and a box of matches. Satisfied, I returned my attention to the filling tub.

Reaching to the faucet, I turned on the cold to even the temperature some. The bathroom was steaming and though I had clearly heard you when you said hot, I didn’t think scalding was what you meant. I waited patiently for the last of the tub to fill. Reaching into it with my hand, I hoped that the temperature would be to your liking.

Turning, I looked back into the bedroom but I didn’t see you. Undecided on how I should handle the situation, I knelt beside the tub for a minute, just waiting. When you didn’t appear, I took a deep breath and opted for Plan B.

“Mr. Mason?” I called out hesitantly. “Mr Mason, your bath is ready…”