Page 53 of Sun, Sea and Spotted Squid

“I’m afraid I cannot join you for dinner. I daren’t miss my wife’s cooking, not even for a day.”

Sam laughed. “I wouldn’t want you to be on the endangered list before I’ve even started.”

“If you go through those doors, Sune will come and find you. Have a wonderful evening and I will see you tomorrow.”

Sam hopped out of the car and made his way to the building. The sign readTable Mountain Cable Car.He took in the huge mountain looming above.

A young girl approached him.

“Sam?”

“Sune?”

They shook hands.

“I’m so stupid,” he said. “I didn’t twig that we’d be coming to Table Mountain.”

Sune giggled. “Matome plays that game all the time. Pay no heed. Come on, the others are waiting.”

She led him through some turnstiles and straight into a cable car. Once inside she banged on the window and gave a thumbs-up.

“You’re a regular here then?”

“We use this place all the time. It’s the best view in the world.”

With a jolt, the car set off. To Sam’s delight, they slowly rotated. He stood in the middle and never lost sight of the city unfolding down to a coastline that met an ocean he would be exploring before long.

“That’s a lot of sea,” he exclaimed.

“With real excitement in it.”

“It seems way bigger than where I worked before.”

“Where were you?”

He ignored the slight pang in his gut. “Valencia in Spain.”

Sune frowned. “You’re the second person to mention that place to me today. Another of your new colleagues spent the summer there.”

Sam’s heart dropped as if it had tumbled all the way down the mountainside and into the kiosk below. His fresh start was disappearing before his very eyes.

“What are they called?”

Sune shrugged. “I can’t remember. So many new names.”

It had to be bloody Astrid. Paul and Genevieve wouldn’t separate and Maria wouldn’t have the guts.

Before he had the chance to interrogate Sune further, the car shuddered to a halt and the door slid open. He had no choice but to follow her onto a stone pathway.

“Turn around and see it all,” she said, with a beam. “There are views and then there’s Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain.”

Sam could barely absorb the incredible scene that lay before him. “It’s like I can see for eternity.”

“Come on,” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get you a drink.”

As they walked into the cafeteria, Sam scanned the place and didn’t recognise a soul.

Is there another marine project in Valencia?