The temperature of the bathwater is just right. I step in and he reaches out for me. I settle into his arms. We have made love in the bathtub a few times since we got married, and we certainly have the time and privacy to now, but his "morning glory" has already visited my "American Beauty rose," as he called it.

This is just about us being intimate without being sexual per se, although I love the feel of his skin against mine. We know each other's bodies pretty well by now, but we still delight in them. For instance, I know where all his muscles are, but I still love to feel them surrounding me.

"Thirty years, Angela," he says, as he caresses my neck and my shoulders.

"Thirty years and a day, Tony."

"Right. Oh, damn, I forgot to give you your present!"

"Uh, what about dinner and everything else?"
"No, this was something special. Something I've never given you before."

"Oh?" If it's something sexual, well, there are some things we haven't done, but that's mostly because one or both of us isn't interested.

"Hey, Ingrid, get your mind out of the gutter!"

"Sorry, Anthony. Is it something you can still give me?"

"Yeah, I left it in the bedroom. I'll go get it."

I'm guessing it's not a puppy. I have no idea what it is. Tony can still surprise me after nine years.

I scoot forward and he squeezes out of the bathtub. I can't help ogling him as he walks away. I know he knows it, because he wiggles his tush a little, making me giggle.

Then a minute later I ogle the front view, but I can't help noticing that he's got something cupped in his hands. "Close your eyes, Angela." I do. "Now hold out your hands." I do, although I'm a little wary. But I trust him implicitly.

The object he hands me is small but heavy. It's smooth on one side and rough on the other. It feels like something has been carved into the rough side.

"Is it a rock?"

"Yeah."

"You've given me a rock." I remember Michael giving me a pet rock when I was pregnant with Jonathan. This ended up being a hint that Michael would not be the most devoted father in the world, although I don't think that was his intention.

"Not just any rock."

I can't help opening my eyes. I look down at the rough, carved side and gasp. "Tony, it's our Rock! I mean our piece of it!"

He grins. "Yeah." He slips into the other end of the tub.

"But how did you get this?"

"Well, you know how they sold off pieces of the Berlin Wall a few years back?"
"Uh, yes?"

"Well, last year Wormser had Kissing Rock destroyed."

"Oh, no! How could he do that to Makeout Rock?"

"Remember, Angela? He said it was a notorious trysting spot. So he thought this would put a stop to it." He shakes his head. "Dr. Bob doesn't know much about teenagers, if he thinks that's gonna stop them."

"But how did you get a piece of the rock?" I almost sing the words.

"Well, uh, I went to the Hidden Hollow Motel on my own. And when I checked out, the manager had a bunch of pieces to sell. Including the one that said 'Anthony.' "

"And you're sure this is you? After all, you said half the guys at the Y Camp were named Anthony."

"It's my carving style."

"Too bad it doesn't say 'Ingrid,' " I say mischievously.

"I like it better like that. This way I can carve, '…loves Ingrid and all the other women who are a part of Angela, the most many-sided Gemini he's ever had the pleasure of kissing.' "

"That's a lot to carve on a little rock."

"I'd use the back."

"Even so."

"Maybe I'll buy a boulder for our fortieth anniversary and carve everything I want to say on that."

"That would be very romantic." I'm not being sarcastic.

"Of course, you managed to say everything you had to say on the back of the watch."

"That wasn't all I had to say. It was just to open a new dialogue."

"Well, it worked, once I figured out what to say back."

"Imagine if we'd been able to communicate from the beginning."

"Which beginning? Thirty years ago or nine?"

"Both."

"We've done OK, Angela. And you know, it doesn't always have to be communication with words."

Two pairs of brown eyes smile at each other. I think of how when we had our first deliberate reunion, seven years ago, I said, "Anthony and Ingrid will at least kiss," and he replied, "They will always at least kiss." And that's true for Tony and Angela, too.

THE END