Brandon Smart did not give his heart easily. He'd given it to San Francisco ('the city by the bay' that Tony Bennett sang about) he'd given it to the first love of his life, Paige, and later, also to the woman who became his wife, Alana. And that was about it.
But what else was there in life? The most beautiful and exciting city in the world and the most beautiful and exciting woman in the world. What could be better?
He had graduated with a good degree in computer sciences from MIT, having been born in a modest rural town in New York State.
Whilst he was studying in his first year he had lost his two sisters, his parents and grandparents and his fiancée, Paige, in a fiery car wreck, when their large SUV had been crushed and burnt out by a drunk who had been driving a big rig towing a tanker filled with industrial alcohol.
Hearbroken, Brandon had thrown himself into his coursework and used his evening job to paper over the cracks in his life. His folks had been fairly well off, so Brandon did not hurt financially. Although, of course, he hurt in many other ways. He even blamed himself for the accident. After all, they had been driving to visit him, if he hadn't left home to go to college...
Therapy and counselling provided by the excellent and dedicated staff at the MIT Medical's Mental Health and Counseling Service helped him to the point that the hurt had changed from a burning shriek to a dull roar by the time he graduated, a year after his classmates, as he'd taken a year out when he lost his family and the woman who he was to have married. He still felt connected to Paige. He'd talk to her, ask her opinion on things, take her advice. It was as if he had a direct link to the part of Heaven she was living in.
But despite the terrible loss of his entire family and his bride-to-be, Brandon got a very good Masters degree and with it landed a job with Google at the Googleplex in Mountain View, Santa Clara.
Brandon loved California. Well, Northern California, to be honest. Southern California was, he supposed, all right, but he seemed to fit in with the buzz around the San Francisco Bay area, way better than the Hollywood vibe. Plus he found the Southern part of the State just a little too hot for his East Coast body!
He met up with Mitchell 'Mitch' Clifton and his delightful wife Sandra (otherwise known as Sandy) when the Santa Clara Business Guild held an open house for the denizens of Silicon Valley. They'd married whilst they were both students at Caltec and straight out of college, Mitch and Sandy had launched a computing and software house which had prospered. But now it needed a good Systems Man to help them take their business to the next level.
Brandon handed his notice in to Google and a month later he was working for Advanced Synergies, who were doing contract work for many of the key players in Silicon Valley.
It was in his second month that Alana Banes started work at Advanced Synergies. She was a gorgeous blonde, well built and it was that --and her sharp mind- that captured Brendon's interest.
Since Paige's death, he had kept his heart on a strict lockdown. But Alana somehow managed to sidestep that and pretty soon they were an item.
After six months of courtship, they became married with Mitch as the best man and Sandy as the Matron of Honour.
They bought a house twenty minutes drive from the home of Mitch and Sandy. Due to the fact that Advanced Synergies was able to pay top Dollar, the houses they bought were in more prosperous parts of Santa Clara.
Everything was going well and Brandon and Alana had talked about starting a family, but they decided to leave it for a couple more years, with Alana continuing to take her birth control injections.
As well as working with Mitch and Sandy at Advanced Synergies, Brandon and Alana also saw a great deal of them socially. They vacationed together, had dinner parties, barbequed at each others houses and spent alternative Christmases in one house or the other.
After four years of wedded bliss (as they used to call it) and after a session of vigorous lovemaking, whilst they were in the afterglow, Alana glanced at Brandon and gave him a nervous smile. "Honey, I have a question for you. Someone I talked to the other day mentioned the idea of swinging to me."
She looked at him and said: "In general, what do you think of the idea of swinging? Of having an open marriage?"
His answer had been unequivocal. "Not interested in it, Alana. Not in the slightest! You are the only woman I want or need. If some people like swinging, well, whatever floats their boat! But I am definitely not interested."
If he'd have looked in her eyes at that moment, he would have seen a fleeting look of disappointment...
A month later, Mitch decided to arrange for a catered meeting in the conference room of Advanced Synergies. The variety of foods and drinks reminded Brandon of his days at the Googleplex. Funny, but Mitch rarely ever did this kind of thing. Was it a new idea? He hoped so.
Mitch gave a Powerpoint lecture about how, whilst business was good, it was foolish to put all their eggs in one basket. Almost 98 percent of their business involved working with other Silicon Valley-based concerns.
He had a solution. There would be a team of people who would be employed to seek out non-Silicon Valley concerns who would benefit from the unique skills sets that Advanced Synergies had to offer. It would be called the Promotion Team, as it would promote the business.
As well as his normal duties, Brandon would receive promotion to director level, and would be responsible for managing this fledging team. Part of his duties would involve flying out to the members of this team and offering them any support they required when pitching the services of Advanced Synergies to potential clients.
When he told Alana of his news, she seemed even more excited than he was! She squealed like a little girl at Christmas! "Oh, Brandon! This is great news! It's the kind of job that could mean great things for you. For us! Will it involve business trips?"
That sudden change of subject puzzled Brandon. But he put it down to Alana not wanting to be separated from him. "I am sorry, honey, but, yes, there will be some trips away. Look, if that's something you are not comfortable with, I can turn down the promotion."
She quickly replied: "Oh, no, Brandon! You mustn't do that! I'll miss you, of course, when you are on your business trips, but just think of the making up!"
They both laughed and chatted about how he could work in his new role.
It took him several weeks to work out how to integrate his new role into what he still regarded as his primary role and his role as a sort of company ambassador.
After the first year it seemed natural now to often spend a couple of nights a week away from Alana, his loving, caring wife. "My wife's a really good sport about this," he told a colleague when he was spending two nights in New York, trying to drum up business.
His colleague looked at him askance: "Really? My old lady would have my balls on a platter if I spent so many nights away from home! You must have a very understanding wife!"
