Love And Coffee: A Cup Of Grace Romance Series Book 1 by Katy Halliday Page B

work filling in these holes in the walls,” Matt said.  There were a number of small nail holes in the walls from the previous tenants as well as some larger ones that needed to be filled before we could paint.
    I got a broom and got working on the floors, turning my head when I got to the squish.  I swept up more than a few dead roaches and I began to wonder about that.  “I hope we don’t have a bug problem,” I said to no one in particular.
    “Nah, sometimes they just wander from building to building.  There’s that fried chicken place a few doors down.  They might be attracted to that,” Matt said.
    “Ew, remind me not to eat there,” I said.  “Which reminds me, we will need to schedule an inspection with the health department before opening day.”
    “I wonder what this is,” Jillian said from the far corner of the room. 
    “What?” I asked, still sweeping up dust and bugs. 
    “This.  There’s a rag and it’s stuck to the floor.”  I looked up and saw her on her knees, tugging on something.  “It’s stuck really solidly.”
    “Here.  Let me help you,” Kathryn said and went over to lend a hand.  They both got hold of the rag and pulled.  The next thing I knew, there was screaming and both of them were on their behinds on the floor.  They looked like turtles on their backs as they flapped their arms and legs and struggled to right themselves.  The screaming was deafening and both Matt and I stood rooted to our places while we tried to make sense of the scene.
    Then I saw it.  Or rather, them.  Thousands of roaches flooding out of what was now a hole in the floor.  Maybe millions.  Okay, that was probably an exaggeration, but there were a lot of them, just streaming out of that hole. 
    After a moment, Matt rushed to help Kathryn and Jillian, grabbing each by the hand and pulling them to their feet.  They both started jumping and slapping at the little beasts that were now crawling up their legs.  And the screaming, oh the screaming!  I would have liked to have helped, but you know, there was that little issue of the bugs being all over the place and my own rather strong abhorrence to the nasty little creepy crawlies.  Kathryn and Jillian just kept jumping up and down and screaming and after a couple of minutes I decided to scream, too.  Call it sympathy screaming.
    Jillian and Kathryn ran toward me, still screaming.  I screamed some more and we all ran to the side of the room opposite of the hole, which was still releasing roaches.  Matt worked on stuffing the rag back into the hole, every now and then stopping to fling a roach off his hands.
    That did it.  I vomited right there, on the floor. Did I mention I have an intense fear of bugs?  Turns out they also make me sick.  Roaches scurried everywhere, and the hair on the back of my neck was standing up. 
    “Oh my gosh, what is that smell?”  Kathryn asked, not turning around and still doing a little hop to make sure none of the roaches were hitching a ride on her clothes.
    “I think it’s me,” I said, wiping my mouth with my sleeve.  Yeah, that would impress Matt.  Very lady like.
    “Okay, I think I got it plugged up,” Matt said, breathing hard.  “Are you guys okay?” he said looking over at us.  He looked at the mess I had made on the floor and winced a little.  Roaches scurried over my shoe and I screamed and danced and felt my stomach heave.  Would this horror never end?
    “We’re okay,” I said, still out of breath from projectile vomiting.  “But I gotta get out of here.”  I hurried out the door with the other three hot on my trail.  Once outside, I inhaled as much fresh air as my lungs would hold.
    “What was that?” Jillian sobbed. “Why did that happen?”
    “I’m not sure.  Looks like there’s a crack in the foundation and someone stopped it up with those rags.  I think they used some sort of adhesive to keep the roaches from squeezing out through the cracks around the rags,