Reunited

When Grace arrived for their date, he’d already laid out a picnic rug along with a bottle of champagne. The spot he’d chosen was perfect, the view across the heath was stunning and the edge of the lake was framed by bright yellow daffodils.

Grace loved spring, the feeling of hope after a long, cold winter. The promise of new beginnings.

She visited Hampstead Heath regularly, especially when she felt the need for time alone. It was her respite from the world, a quiet place for her to dream. When she told him this, he looked at her with such intensity that she suddenly felt self-conscious and stopped talking mid-sentence, all too aware that she was blushing. There was no denying, as much as she still felt like the young woman he’d known, she’d aged significantly since the last time they’d been as intimate as this. She was older, heavier and wore wrinkles instead of the glow of first love.

He smiled at her as if he’d read her mind and disagreed. “You look just beautiful, Grace.”

Then he kissed her. It was such a passionate kiss that she felt every nerve in her body crackle and her heart thud inside her chest. As they drew apart he pushed a strand of hair back from her cheek and gazed longingly into her eyes.

“You will never know how much I’ve missed you.”

Hearing those words, she was nineteen again and achingly in love.

She had agreed to meet him again after they’d bumped into each other at a mutual friend’s sixtieth birthday celebration. Grace’s heart leap into her throat when he’d walked through the door. It had been forty-one years since they’d said a tearful goodbye, but she instantly recognized the beautiful young man she’d known as a teenager. There had obviously been changes over the years; his hair had turned from chestnut brown to warm silver, his cheekbones had softened within his face and he wasn’t as tall as she had remembered...but it was unmistakeably him.

She’d been unaware they shared a mutual friend in Katherine. She was Grace’s friend from Saturday morning life-drawing class and a colleague of his at a firm in the City. Katherine could never have guessed they’d known each other in their youth. Grace hadn’t spoken about their relationship with anybody. She hadn’t forgotten about him though, he’d been in her thoughts every day.

The two of them had discussed so much at Karen’s party but neither spoke of marriage or children. Now that he’d kissed her, she was sure that she didn’t want to know. She just wanted their moment to last forever; for the rest of her life to be a Thursday afternoon on the heath, lying side by side with the man who had always held her heart.

“Do you remember, Grace”, he started, rolling on his side and cupping her face in his hand, “the very first time we met?”

“Yes. You were a stuck-up Uni Boy.”

“And you were rude.”

They both laughed. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, kissing her gently on the lips. Grace smiled and stroked his face, tracing a line around his cheek, feeling the soft stubble just underneath the skin. She took in every inch of his face; the soft lines around his mouth and nose, the stronger lines etched on his forehead and the coarse silver hairs which lay flat against his temples. She was completely lost in him again.

“I had to buy a new book you know, you were a terrible waitress.”

Grace feigned annoyance. “It wasn’t my waitressing that was the problem. You shouldn’t have put it in the way of the coffee cup!”

She lay back on the rug smiled at the memory. Grace had been working in the park cafe the summer they met. She wanted to save money to move out of her parent’s home and rent a flat with friends. More than anything she wanted freedom and independence.

He had returned to London after his first year at university, full of tall stories, great ambition and just a touch of newly acquired academic pomposity.

He’d been sitting at a table in the cafe for hours, nursing the dregs of a cold coffee and reading a battered book. Grace noticed him when he walked in. He wasn’t wearing the clothes that most people their age did; there were no flares, beads or long hair. Instead, he was wearing black trousers, a shirt with the cuffs turned up, collar undone and a waistcoat. He looked like a city worker who had been out all night and lost his tie and jacket.

She was clearing tables and grabbed his cup without looking. He wrestled it back and in the process some coffee had been spilt over his book.

“Hey! I haven’t finished that.”

“It must be very cold by now.”

“I like it that way.”

“Well, sorry.” She turned to move away and then caught the title of the book as he tried to clear up the spill. “Jane Eyre?” It wasn’t what she’d expected.

“Yes. It’s a story about the quest to be loved.”

She sneered. “I think it’s a tale of misogyny and female oppression actually.”

“Is that so?” He smiled at her for the first time and studied her face. Grace felt awkward under his scrutiny; she knew she looked a mess. Her long auburn hair had started to escape from its ponytail and she was still wearing the remains of the previous night’s eyeliner. She’d been out until the early hours at the Marquee Club and her head was still throbbing from too much alcohol and not enough sleep. She stared fearlessly back at him.

“I’d be interested to hear more about your opinions on female oppression.” He waited for her to introduce herself.

There was something about the way he spoke and his lopsided smile that made her stomach flip.

“Grace.”

She agreed to meet him down by the lake when she’d finished her shift. After all, she’d reasoned with herself, they would just be discussing literature.

And they did. They argued about Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Villette. They debated the Beatles versus the Stones, the weaknesses of Harold Wilson’s government and Grace’s desire to travel around India. Then, as night began to close in, he kissed her and asked if he could walk her home. Grace nodded and kissed him back hard, leaving them both in no doubt that they would be seeing one and another again and again.

They spent every day together. They picnicked by the lake, walked hand in hand over the heath and discovered new secluded wooded areas. They sat on top of Parliament Hill and stared for hours at the view over London telling each other imaginary stories of what was happening in the city below them.

The world was changing that year; man landed on the moon, the stonewall riots erupted and John and Yoko wanted everyone to give peace a chance. Somehow though, all of those events faded into insignificance to Grace, compared to the epic changes she felt inside.

She was in love with a man that spoke to her soul, challenged her mind and set her body on fire. They made love furiously in the long grass, lay naked under the stars and explored each other’s bodies with fingers, lips, tongues, kisses and hot lingering touches.

Grace wanted to be with him forever. She wanted to crawl into his body and live inside his skin so that they would never have to be apart.

But before too long the balmy heat of the summer evenings gave way to a cooler autumn breeze. Although they marvelled at the beauty of the woods as the leaves changed colour, they were both painfully and silently aware of the end of their summer.

On a rainy afternoon in late September, he arrived at the lake looking pale. His eyes remained fixed on the grass as he told her that he would be leaving for university the next day and he held her close when she began to cry. She felt his hot wet tears on the back of her shoulder and they held each other until the light began to fade and she was too cold and exhausted from sobbing to stay there any longer.

She left him by the lake and he had let her go. She’d turned around as she reached the top of the hill to see him standing, drenched and rooted to the spot. They’d stared at each other for what felt like hours before she’d finally torn her eyes from him and walked away.

That was the last time they’d seen each other. They hadn’t spoken of staying in touch, of writing or of phone calls. Somehow, they’d both known that their summer had been a precious moment in time and that the strains of being apart would erode what they’d had.

For three brief months, Grace had experienced the most passionate relationship she could have ever imagined existed. She had never felt the same way about another man since. “Forty-one years.” Grace sighed. She turned to look at him lying next to her. His eyes were closed and he was breathing slowly, wearing the expression of a contented man. She took in every inch of his beautiful face and resisted the urge to kiss him again.

Grace glanced down at their hands, realising their fingers were still entwined. His wedding ring glistened brightly in the late afternoon sun.

She gently removed her hand from his, breathed in the crisp spring air and quietly got to her feet. She gazed at him once more, sleeping peacefully on the rug and felt her heart swell. Many years had passed since they were last together and they both looked like very different people now. But he was the same man she remembered and she was glad.

Grace turned and walked slowly away from the lake, towards her home and her life. This time she didn’t look back to see him watch her leave.

- THE END -