TANEISHA James-Francis and her husband Keron’s love story will have their future grandchildren entertained for many years to come.
The pair, who met while working in the tourism industry close to a decade ago, have been married for seven years. Though they were initially employed to different companies, their paths always seemed to cross.
“How I met Keron is so interesting. I was at work one day and, because of where I was sitting, I shared a desk with a colleague who Keron knew. I can recall seeing him at the desk and they were just having a conversation, and he said to the young lady that he really wants a relationship where he is settled,” Taneisha tells the Jamaica Observer’s LetsTravelCaribbean.com.
“I remember her telling him, ‘I’m going to set you up on a nice woman.’ I wasn’t involved in the conversation; I was just eavesdropping because he is an eye candy,” she disclosed.
Keeping her crush a secret, Taneisha avoided seeing Keron for a month. But, as fate would have it, Keron landed a job with Amstar DMC — the same company where Taneisha was employed.
She was not pleased.
“I remember one day he called me out of the blue, even though I was always ignoring his messages, to say that he got a job with the same company. I didn’t know how to feel, but I was not happy about it,” she says while chuckling.
To make matters worse, the married woman shares, the man she secretly liked was now her trainee.
“When he came on board he was in the office doing training and I don’t know why, but of all the older representatives that were there working before, they had to send Keron to shadow me. I was so nervous, but that was where it all started,” Taneisha, who is now the reservations and customer service manager at Chukka Caribbean Adventure, recounts as her husband laughs at the memory.
He, too, remembers the story as if it happened yesterday. For him, Taneisha was the woman of his dreams, but he refuses to admit that he deliberately sought employment with the same company.
“I was very persistent. I decided that I saw something, so I was going after it. So, even though I was being turned down I still tried,” he tells LetsTravelCaribbean.com.
“I was very much into her, so I decided to ask her out. We had lunch together every day and that gave us the opportunity to talk outside of work,” he adds.
Keron, now a front officer supervisor at the Hilton Hotel, continues, “This is how I look at it — love is like a plant, the more you water and care for it, the more it grows. So, I took some time to water it; I didn’t rush into anything. Now I’ve stopped counting the years, I just let the years count.”
What sealed the deal for Keron some 10 years ago was Taneisha’s “realness”.
“One thing that stood out to me when we first started dating was that she isn’t a pretender. In past relationships women would paint this white picket fence fantasy as if life was going to be all good and dandy,” he explains.
“In our relationship there was no form of pretentiousness or anybody trying to put on a show. We have also always had good communication,” Keron adds.
The couple are now parents to a beautiful baby girl and are looking forward to celebrating their eight-year wedding anniversary soon.
