Apple may see way of paying Heather (7)
I believe the answer is:
codling
'apple' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'way of paying heather' is the wordplay.
'way of paying' becomes 'cod' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'heather' becomes 'ling' (synonyms).
'cod'+'ling'='CODLING'
'may see' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for codling that I've seen before include "Immature fish" , "One apple" , "kind of apple" , "Small fish" , "Two fish combine to make a young one" .)