Playing by Heart

by Cleary James

  The beach Grayson brought them to was a little off the beaten track, so it wasn’t too crowded even on a sunny Saturday, and there was plenty of room on the long stretch of sand for the small crowd of surfers who had gathered there. As she got out of the car, Lisa shielded her eyes from the sun to survey the beach. Its relatively sheltered location and gentle shelving made the waves perfect for beginners honing their skills, evidenced by the abundance of surf schools in the vicinity.

  They hired boards and wetsuits at a nearby surf shop, and Lisa felt a familiar shiver of anticipation as she changed and tied her hair back in a ponytail. Adrenalin was already kicking in as she picked up her board and headed for the sand. Grayson was waiting for her, and the sight of him in a wetsuit set her pulses racing even faster.

  ‘Are you ready for this?’ He grinned at her, jerking his head towards the sea.

  She nodded. As they ran to the shoreline, she enjoyed the familiar rush of excitement mixed with fear she always felt before she got in the water, and there was a little flutter of butterflies in her stomach as they paddled out. But as soon as she caught her first wave, her nerves were swept away in the pure high she felt when she stood up on her board and suddenly she was gliding effortlessly, skimming across the curve of the water. She was so intensely in the moment, unaware of anything but the feeling of weightlessness, the power of the water pushing her board along the top of the wave, the spray on her face and the crashing of water around her. Everything else zoned out until there was nothing but her and the sky and the sea, and for a brief few seconds the world was perfect and she was exactly where she was supposed to be. It was unlike anything else she’d ever experienced. It would only last seconds before she plunged into the water, but it was enough to get her hooked again every time and eagerly chasing the next wave to recapture that moment where she was at one with the ocean, a part of it. The only thing that came close was sex with Grayson.

  She looked across at him as he wiped out, crashing into the water, the sun glinting off his board as it flew into the air behind him in a high arc. He turned to her, laughing as he shook water from his hair, and she saw the same exhilaration in his face that she felt, the same pure visceral joy.

  ‘God, it’s been too long since I’ve done this,’ he called to her breathlessly. ‘I’d forgotten how much I love it.’ Droplets of water sparkled on his skin and dripped from his hair. ‘Thanks for reminding me.’

  ‘You’re welcome.’ She grinned back at him. She was so happy they’d come here. Surfing was always a high, but sharing it with Grayson just made it more wonderful than ever.

  Several hours later, they walked back up the sand together, happy and exhausted after a morning chasing the waves.

  ‘Are you hungry?’ Grayson asked.

  ‘Starving!’ Lisa grinned. The taste of salty water on her lips as it dripped down her face sharpened her appetite.

  ‘The beach shack here does really good food. We can have lunch before driving down to my parents’ place.’

  When they had changed, they went to the restaurant at the edge of the beach. It was a basic wooden shack right on the sand, with simple picnic tables and benches outside. It was obviously a popular spot, full of tanned, sun-kissed surfers refuelling with burgers and freshly caught fish, washed down with bottles of ice-cold beer. They ordered a large seafood platter to share and a couple of beers, and Lisa dug in hungrily to the mouth-watering selection of prawns, crab and razor clams. She caught Grayson watching her with a mixture of awe and amusement as she peeled a prawn and dipped it into the bowl of delicious spicy sauce on the side.

  ‘What?’ she asked.

  He grinned, shaking his head. ‘It’s just great to see you cutting loose like this – enjoying yourself and having fun. I’ve never seen you so relaxed.’

  ‘I am having fun,’ she said. ‘And this food is amazing.’ She popped the prawn into her mouth. The physical exertion and the tangy sea air had given her one hell of an appetite.

  ‘It is,’ he said, reaching for a crab claw. ‘But we’d better save some room for dinner. My mum’s expecting us, and she’ll be cooking up a storm. She likes to feed people.’

  ‘Will your sisters be there?’ Lisa asked, a little nervous about meeting Grayson’s family.

  ‘No, just Mum and Dad. Alison and Emma still live in London, and Sarah is in Edinburgh.’

  At least she wouldn’t have to cope with meeting all of them at once, she thought, feeling a little less intimidated. ‘I hope your parents won’t mind me turning up.’ They saw little enough of Grayson, as she understood it. They would probably rather have him to themselves.

  ‘They’ll be delighted to meet you, honestly,’ he said with a little laugh, as if enjoying some private joke.

  ‘Why do you say it like that?’ she asked, alarmed. ‘What did you tell them about me?’

  He shrugged. ‘Just that you’re a friend I was spending some time with down here.’

  A friend. She wondered were they used to him bringing friends home to spend the night – women friends who shared his bed. Had Isabel stayed with him at his parents’ house?

  Damn! She shook her head as she caught her thoughts straying. She had promised herself she wouldn’t over-think this, and here she was doing exactly that. She resolved anew to just go with the flow, enjoy her time with Grayson for what it was and not stress about making it last or trying to turn it into something more.

  ‘My mum’s always complaining she doesn’t see enough of me,’ he continued. ‘She’ll be absolutely thrilled with you if you’re luring me down to Cornwall more often.’ He smiled at her and lifted his beer bottle, throwing his head back as he took a long slug, so he didn’t see her flush of pleasure. She couldn’t help feeling pleased by the implication that he wanted to spend more time with her and his assumption that they would be seeing a lot more of each other from now on.

  Despite Grayson’s assurances, Lisa’s nerves returned as they got closer to where his parents lived. They drove through the quaint village of Polperro and out the other side.

  ‘That’s it.’ Grayson pointed to a large white house perched on the side of a cliff, standing out brightly against the blue sky. A few minutes later, they pulled up outside a set of electric gates. Grayson leant out to enter a code into the panel, and the gates opened onto a paved granite driveway.

  ‘Gosh, what an amazing house!’ Lisa gasped as they pulled up in a carport to the rear of the property.

  Grayson smiled at her as they got out of the car. He took their overnight bags out of the trunk, grabbing them both with one hand.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, taking Lisa’s hand and leading her around to the front of the house.

  Lisa didn’t know which way to look as they rounded onto a slate-covered terrace, planted with mature trees and exotic plants and shrubs. In front of her there were stunning views over the wide expanse of the bay, and steps led down through a series of smaller terrace gardens to a little beach at the bottom of the cliff. Behind her, the house was as stunning as its setting. Its stucco facade standing out stark white against the blue sky, it was a classic example of art deco architecture, with its flat roof and bold geometric shapes, the walls a mixture of lines and curves. A rounded glass-block wall in its centre divided the house in two, and on either side, a wide railed deck at the upper floor faced out to sea.

  Grayson smiled at her reaction as she stood there gaping speechlessly. ‘We can explore later,’ he said. ‘Let’s go inside.’ He led her towards the huge oak door. It opened before they got to it, and a tall, slender woman with ash-blonde hair stood on the step smiling at them welcomingly.

  ‘Hi, Mum.’ Grayson dropped the bags as he leant in to kiss her cheek, and they embraced. ‘This is Lisa,’ he said as he pulled back. His mother turned to Lisa, holding out her hand.

  ‘Hello, Mrs Fielding,’ Lisa smiled, shaking her outstretched hand. ‘It’s lovely to meet you.’

  ‘Call me Janet, please,’ she smiled warmly. ‘I’m very pleased to
meet you, Lisa. Well, come in, both of you.’ They followed her into a double height entrance hall with floors of polished oak. ‘Grayson, you can bring Lisa to your room and show her where everything is. Dinner’s almost ready. Come on down when you’ve dumped your stuff and sorted yourselves out.’

  ‘Where’s Dad?’ Grayson asked as they headed for the wide, open-tread staircase.

  ‘He’s just gone to get a few things in the village. He’ll be back shortly.’

  The delicious smell of roasting meat wafted from somewhere else in the house as Grayson led Lisa upstairs. He opened a door off the landing and waved her ahead of him into a large, airy room with walls painted a soft cornflower blue and pale wood floorboards. A big bed faced glass-paned double doors leading out onto the deck, and white muslin curtains blew softly in the gentle breeze from the half-open windows.

  ‘What a beautiful room,’ she said, automatically drawn to the balcony doors that stood slightly ajar. She pushed them open and stepped out onto the wide deck that looked out over the sea.

  She heard Grayson follow her outside. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder as she leaned against the rail and took a deep breath of salty sea air.

  ‘Thank you for coming,’ he said. He nuzzled into her neck and dropped a soft kiss on her shoulder.

  She turned in his arms. ‘Thank you for bringing me,’ she said, smiling up at him.

  There was the sound of a car door banging followed by the crunch of feet on the gravel below. A rangy grey-haired man appeared around the side of the house and gave them a cheery wave, smiling up at them.

  ‘Come on,’ Grayson said, disentangling his arms from around her. ‘Come and meet Dad.’

  Downstairs, Grayson led Lisa into a large open-plan living/dining room, dominated by a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows at one end overlooking the wide expanse of the bay. In front of them, a long table was set for dinner.

  ‘Good timing,’ Janet said, looking up as they entered. ‘Everything’s just ready.’ She was laying dishes on the table, while Grayson’s father opened wine.

  ‘Dad, this is Lisa,’ Grayson said, ushering her forward with a hand at her back.

  ‘Very pleased to meet you, Lisa,’ Mr Fielding said with a warm smile as he shook her hand. ‘I’m Don.’

  He was tall and lean, and had the same blue eyes and strong, square jaw as Grayson. His hair was mostly grey now, but thick and luxuriant, and he was still a handsome man. Lisa could tell he would have been just as devastatingly attractive as his son when he was younger.

  ‘This looks great, Mum,’ Grayson said as they took their seats at the table.

  ‘Well, it’s nothing special, but there’s plenty of it.’ Janet began to pass around dishes. ‘I hope you’re both hungry.’

  ‘Starving!’ Grayson grinned, catching Lisa’s eye. ‘We worked up quite an appetite surfing earlier.’

  ‘Surfing?’ Don raised his eyebrows. ‘You haven’t been surfing for a long time.’

  ‘No. I’d forgotten how much I love it. Lisa reminded me.’

  ‘Well, that’s good news,’ Don said, smiling approvingly at Lisa. ‘Hopefully that means we’ll see more of you down here,’ he said to Grayson. ‘There’s not much surfing in London.’

  Lisa was relieved to find she still had quite an appetite despite gorging herself on seafood earlier, and she was able to do justice to the delicious food. There was roast chicken with stuffing, cheesy gratin potatoes, buttered leeks, and carrots roasted with cumin and garlic.

  ‘You have a beautiful home,’ she said to Janet. ‘This house is amazing.’

  ‘Thank you. But Grayson can take most of the credit.’ She nodded at her son proudly.

  ‘Oh?’ Lisa turned to him. ‘You designed it?’

  ‘Partly,’ he said with a shrug. ‘It was mainly a restoration job, but there was some restyling involved.’

  ‘The house was originally built in the thirties,’ Don told her, ‘but it had been vacant for about twenty years when we found it.’

  ‘It was practically derelict,’ Janet added.

  ‘But we fell in love with it, and we had to have it – even though there were lots of perfectly lovely houses around here ready to move into, that would have been far more suitable for a retired couple. We just kept coming back to this place. We couldn’t get it out of our heads.’

  It was easy to see why the house would have got such a grip on them. The location and setting alone were outstanding, and even as an empty shell, some of the house’s former glory and future potential must have shone through. ‘Lucky you have such a talented architect in the family, then.’ She smiled at Grayson.

  ‘Yes, Grayson did an amazing job on it,’ Janet said. ‘It was his retirement gift to us.’

  Not only talented, but generous too, Lisa thought. She liked that Grayson was close to his family. It made her admire him even more than she already did.

  ‘Are you from around here, Lisa?’ Don asked her.

  ‘No, I grew up in London. I just moved down here about six months ago. I live in Porth Heron now.’

  ‘What brought you to Cornwall?’

  ‘I just ... wanted a change,’ she said to Don, shifting uncomfortably.

  ‘Do you have connections in Porth Heron? Family?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, I’d only been there on holidays once when I was a child.’ She smiled fondly at the memory.

  Grayson raised his eyebrows. ‘With your grandparents?’

  She nodded, realising she hadn’t told him that before. She felt Don and Janet looking between the two of them. She hoped it didn’t strike them as odd that Grayson seemed to know so little about his overnight guest.

  ‘So, how did you two meet?’ Janet asked, looking at her.

  Lisa hesitated, not sure what to say. Grayson’s parents were so kind and welcoming, she hated not being completely honest with them. But there was no way she could tell them that they had met when her ex-boyfriend had brought her to Grayson’s house for an evening of partner-swapping.

  ‘We met at a dinner party,’ Grayson said smoothly. ‘Through a ... an acquaintance of Isabel’s.’

  ‘You knew each other in London, then?’ Janet asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Lisa said. ‘But we’d ... lost touch.’

  ‘It’s thanks to you that I found Lisa again,’ Grayson said, turning to his father. ‘She did that painting you admired at my house recently.’

  ‘Ah, so you’re an artist?’ Don asked her.

  ‘Well, not professionally or anything,’ Lisa said, ‘but—’

  ‘Yes, she is,’ Grayson said firmly, frowning at her slightly.

  ‘Well, you’re a very talented young lady,’ Don said.

  ‘Thank you,’ Lisa blushed.

  ‘She is.’ Grayson shot her an admiring look that made Lisa swell with pride. ‘Anyway, you said you’d seen a painting just like it for sale in the market in Porth Heron.’

  ‘Of course – and that’s where you live now,’ he said to Lisa. ‘So I was right!’ he said delightedly.

  ‘Yes,’ Lisa smiled.

  ‘Well, I’m glad I was able to bring the two of you together again,’ Don said.

  ‘Me too,’ Grayson said, looking at Lisa. ‘Very glad.’

  Don and Janet were so warm and friendly, Lisa soon felt completely at ease with them. They bombarded her with questions, but it was obvious that their curiosity stemmed from genuine interest and a real desire to get to know her, and it didn’t feel intrusive or unwelcome. They encouraged her to talk about herself, gently drawing her out until they knew all about her childhood with her grandparents, her move to Cornwall, and her life in Porth Heron. There were lots of things she left out, of course. She didn’t want them to know her whole story – the sad, sorry tale of Mark and what a naive idiot she’d been with him; the truth about how she’d met their son and the sordid nature of their previous relationship; the whole sorry mess she’d made of her life. But despite her omissions, she felt she could be
herself with them.

  They told her about themselves in turn. Don had been a barrister in London, and Janet had been a psychotherapist with a busy private practice at their home in Hampstead before they had retired to Cornwall. They spoke with great affection and humour about their family, and proudly showed Lisa photographs of their grandchildren. By the time they were having coffee on the terrace, the distant sound of waves crashing on the rocks far below, Lisa felt as if she had known them all her life.

  Nevertheless, it had been a tiring day and she felt a little drained from all the exertion and excitement. So much had happened in such a short space of time, and she felt in need of some breathing space. So she was grateful when Grayson caught her stifling a yawn and suggested that she might like to go up to their room while he helped his parents clear up. She took him up on the offer readily and said her goodnights to Janet and Don, thanking them for their hospitality.

  Chapter Eleven

  ‘Thanks, Mum,’ Grayson said as he helped his mother stack the dishwasher while his father cleared up outside. He had sensed that Lisa was feeling a little overwhelmed and would appreciate a bit of time to herself, so he’d suggested she go ahead to their room while he stayed behind to help clear away the dishes.

  ‘Oh, it was nothing special,’ his mother said, bending to stack plates in the machine.

  He smiled. ‘Not just for dinner. For being so kind to Lisa.’

  ‘Well, who wouldn’t be?’ she said, straightening. ‘She’s a sweetheart.’ She looked at him carefully. ‘She’s special, isn’t she? To you, I mean.’

  Grayson nodded. ‘Yes, she is. Very special.’

  His mother smiled. ‘She’s lovely, Grayson. But there’s something about her.’ She gave a worried frown. ‘She seems ... I don’t know ... fragile. She reminds me a little of some of my old PTSD patients.’