THE WATER ran brown as it slipped off Joe’s skin onto the blue and white marble tile of the immense shower. It wasn’t only the shower that was large. The bathroom itself was a monster, making his former apartment seem diminutive in comparison. And the house, perched on a hill with an eagle’s view of the valley city, was by any standard no less than a mansion. He shampooed his hair and brushed under his finger and toe nails for a second time before noticing he was doing something he’d not done in a very long time. Joe was singing; just a little tune of his own creation but there it was, a song. He smiled and let the warm water rake the suds from his dark hair, realizing how he’d allowed himself to be robbed of his own happiness for so long. He had become preoccupied with blame and had imagined every excuse possible for his discontentment except for looking within.

Emerging from the shower, he grabbed a thick towel from the warming rack and dragged it coarsely over his body but mindfully patted his face dry, determined to not wipe away the smile that had only recently emerged. Wiping the steam from the full-length mirror, he let the towel drop at his feet and encountered again the person who stared back at him. Joe had not seen himself, really seen himself, in nearly two years, not since the breakup. Sure, he’d glanced in the mirror, but it wasn’t something he could manage to stand for long. He had become a cringe-worthy shadow of his former self, not something to behold with a sense of pride. The startling revelation as he traced the stubble along his jaw line and then down his trim, muscled physique was not that he’d lost an ounce of his outer beauty; it had simply become dull, as no light radiated from within.

“It all changes now,” he vowed, looking deep into his own eyes. “Whatever it takes. I will not be an embarrassment. I will not be a failure to myself anymore. Whatever it takes.”

Picking the towel from the floor and tossing it in an ornately woven basket, he noticed a neat pile of clothes and personal amenities on a chaise lounge. Sitting primly atop the folded clothes was an envelope with his name written in neat cursive.

Joe—

Trust you are feeling more man than beast by now.… Apologize but I must disappear this evening and have guests arriving at the house at seven. Please see that they are entertained, and they will most certainly entertain you.