A Killer Ending

I hadn't met and married Ted, I wouldn't have Audrey and Caroline, the two lights of my life. Best to let it lie.
"The cookies look terrific," I said, changing the subject. "I figure we'll start the coffee makers about a half hour before showtime. Our star author should be here any moment. In the meantime, if you want to help, I forgot to bring down the napkins; there's a bag upstairs in the kitchen. If you could bring those down and put them on the table, that would be wonderful."
"Will do," she said, and bustled up the stairs to retrieve them.
I straightened my blouse a little—I'd chosen to wear a starched white cotton button-down with a sea glass necklace in blues and greens, along with capri-length skinny jeans and wedge sandals—and attempted to give the impression of a prosperous bookstore owner. I caught a glimpse of myself reflected in the store's side window. Dark hair, still long down my back, pulled up in a clip. Hazel eyes that were only a little bit puffy from my little crying binge, arched, dark brows, a long, straight nose, and a roundish face that looked a little like my mother's. I had to admit I looked pretty good. Even if there was a little extra real estate under the blouse at the moment. I was adjusting my blouse when there was a knock at the door
I turned to see who it was, and smiled when I recognized K. T. Anderson. She didn't look exactly like her author photo—no one ever does—but it was a close likeness, and I could tell already that I preferred her smile in person. I hurried over to the door and opened it, and my face froze.
Next to the author, his arm linked with hers, stood my ex-husband.

3
Ted and I stared at each other for what felt like a decade before I recovered myself. I grabbed at the doorknob and yanked the door open, my face still in a rictus of a smile.
"Hello," I said in a strangled-sounding voice.
"I'm K. T. Anderson—Kirsten," announced the author. She was an attractive woman a few years older than me with streaked red hair and a knee-length skirt that showed off her shapely calves. "Are you Bethany?"
"Max," I gurgled, automatically holding out a hand for her to shake.
"Max? Oh, yes... she mentioned you were the store owner. This is my boyfriend Theodore," she said cheerfully. I glanced over at my ex-husband, whose face had gone pale.
"We've met," I informed her.
"Oh, really? Small world!" she said in a bright voice.
She had no idea, I thought as I stared at my husband's familiar form.
"What a lovely store you have; thank you so much for inviting me." She paused as I continued to stare, then added, "May we come in?"
"Of course," I said. "I'm so sorry; please do. Can I get you a bottle of water, or something to drink?" I asked, trying to sound pleasant and inviting despite the fact that I felt as if I'd been hit by a tractor trailer. I avoided looking at Ted as I chirped, "We've got cookies, too."
"A bottle of water would be lovely, but I'll skip the cookies,” she said, patting her flat stomach. "I'm trying to lose a few pounds!"
I nodded and pulled my blouse out a bit, hoping it wasn't molding too closely to my recently expanded waistline. I was overly conscious of Ted's presence as Kirsten's eyes roved over the interior of the store. "This is a gorgeous little place; it looks like it belongs in a book itself. Thank you so much for inviting me to the opening; it's an honor!"
"I'm so glad you could come," I said, my eyes straying to Ted, who was studiously avoiding my eyes.
There was maybe a little more white at the temples than I remembered, and he had thinned out a bit, but other than that he was exactly the same as he had been for the two decades we were married. He even smelled the same; I caught a whiff of his Old Spice as he followed Kirsten around the room.
"Oooh, these cookies do look tempting," Kirsten said, distracting me from my assessment of my former husband.
"Help yourself if you change your mind," I said. "My mother made the coconut ones on the front."
"I thought those looked familiar," Ted said. "I've missed those."
"You've had her mother's cookies?" Kirsten said, eyeing her beau. "You must know each other pretty well, then. How do you know each other, anyway?"
"Ah, Maxine is my, uh, ex-wife," Ted said, a familiar flush starting at the collar of his button-down shirt and moving up to his temples.
Maxine. Ted had never called me that. Then again, I had never called him Theodore.
"Wait. What?" Kirsten looked back and forth between Ted and me. "You knew this was her store?"
"No!" he protested. "I had no idea. We've been living apart for months, and we've kind of... well, not talked a whole lot."
"You've been busy," I said, nodding toward Kirsten.
"Right," he said, his face turning beet colored. "I've been to Snug Harbor before, of course... but I didn't know Max... Maxine was the one who bought the store. You told me you were talking to someone named Bethany."
"Bethany's my right-hand woman," I explained. "She's been organizing most of the opening for me."
Kirsten blinked her long lashes. "So you had no idea this was your ex-wife's shop until we got to the front door."
"No," Ted and I said in unison.
She started laughing, a slightly braying laugh that made me feel a little bit better. She wasn't totally perfect, thank heavens. "This is just too good," she said. "I'm going to have to use this in a book someday." She eyed