Not confronting somebody

A few weeks ago I lent one of the tenants a portable gas stove because they said that their electric stove-top was not working. Truth was they just didn't want to use the electric stove-top because it takes too long to heat up. So instead of confronting them to return the portable gas stove, I went and bought another one out of my own pocket - to replace the one that I gave them.  I originally was lead to believe that there was something wrong with their electric one. So when the boss told me to get the gas one back off them, I couldn't bring myself to make such a demand of that tenant.