Allie stepped back slightly, keeping them both in view. She was outnumbered but ready.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the guy by the ladder brushing the grass off his shorts. He looked up.
“Mel is your aunt, right?” He turned toward Mr. Scruffy, who was doing his best Chuck Norris impersonation. “It’s okay, Jim. Mel said her niece was coming.” Turning back to Allie, he adopted a calming, apologetic tone. “Seems I scared you. Sorry, we didn’t expect you for a couple days.”
“We?”
“Well, your aunt and I.”
“And you are?”
“George Bennet, your aunt’s next-door neighbor.” He pointed to the tan and orange two-story Victorian behind him.
Allie felt a spark of envy for her aunt. George was an athletic six foot two, with thick, dark hair, a short-cropped beard, and chocolate eyes. The grey cargo shorts he wore exposed tanned, muscular legs.
Allie pulled her attention back toward the scruffy guy. “And Jim, is it? What’s your story?”
“Jim Taggert, yes ma’am. I heard George yell and came to help. Saw you with that golf club there and was going to take you out with a sidekick or something.”
Allie put her hand up to block the sun so she could get a good look at Jim. He was more likely to be a sidekick than to deliver one that could hurt her. Turning back toward George, who was repositioning his ladder, she slightly lowered her 7 iron but remained on guard. “You okay?”
“I think so,” George rubbed his shoulder.
She lifted her club to point at the roof above him. “And what is it you were doing up there?”
“Mel said the squirrels were getting in. She wanted them out before you arrived. I finally found their entry point and was plugging it.”
“What kind of squirrels?” Jim asked as he carefully maneuvered past Allie to grab hold of the ladder.
“I don’t know,” George said. “The usual ones, I guess.”
“Usual?” Jim scowled at George, shook his head, then climbed. “There are sixty-five species of squirrels in the US. At least eight can be found in Michigan.” He poked at the hole before looking down and stating his matter of fact. “By the looks of this, I’d say Mel’s roommate is a red squirrel—or squirrels. They can be territorial. You should get them out as quickly as you can.”