All Chapters of After Hours: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Chapter Forty-Three: Alli – The ProposalAlli’s POVThe bar was closed, lights dimmed to a low amber glow, chairs stacked upside down on every table. Her boots clicked softly against the worn floorboards as she made her last lap through the place. She touched the edge of the jukebox, paused at the sticky spot near the register where the floor always creaked.Her chest ached.This place had been her world for the last few months.A memory of her mother. A paycheck. A place to hide in plain sight.But now…It was time.Her apartment was packed. Everything she needed was in boxes, ready to be driven to Oregon before dawn. A new campus, new town, new life. Far, far from this little honky-tonk bar in Mississippi.Far from him.“Alli?”Her dad’s voice came from the back door. He stepped inside, dusty ball cap in hand. “You good, baby girl?”She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. “Yeah. Just… saying goodbye.”He nodded once, didn’t press. “I’ll be out in the truck.”She waited for

Chapter Forty-Five: Johnny – Ghosts, a Bottle, and HerJohnny’s POVThe bar sounded normal.It looked normal.Friday night crowd, boots scuffing the floor, laughter loud and aimless, beer bottles sweating on the counter. The same old jukebox playing the same old Merle Haggard song. Pool balls cracked in the back. Somebody yelled something about whiskey and losing at darts.But Johnny felt anything but normal.He was posted up in his usual corner, elbows on the bar, staring blankly at a beer he hadn’t touched. His body was here. His heart was... somewhere in Oregon. Or Mississippi. Or maybe still in her hand the way it had been when she walked out of his life with a whisper and an I love you that still rang in his ears.It had been four days.Long enough for everything to move on.But not him.He still sat at the bar like she might walk through the door again, hair in a messy bun, lip caught between her teeth, eyes full of lightning. Like she might slide behind the counter and roll tho

Chapter Forty-Seven: Johnny – The Bar Door OpensJohnny’s POVHe hadn’t meant to turn down that road.Didn’t realize what he was doing until the rusted old sign came into view—"Mitchell’s Tavern," still hanging on despite years of rain and heat and ghosts.He eased the truck to a stop in the gravel lot, the engine ticking as it cooled.The bar wasn’t open.Not yet, maybe not ever again.But the lights were on.Johnny killed the engine, sat there for a second, heart already drumming against his ribs. The bar had been shuttered since Ed passed two weeks back. He’d heard the news through town whispers, offered his condolences to a few mutuals, even considered showing up to the funeral.But he hadn’t gone.It felt too raw. Too tangled in memories he hadn’t untied yet.Still, the lights being on today?He had to see.The bell over the door didn’t chime anymore, but it squeaked enough for her to hear.She turned from behind the bar, hair twisted up in that messy bun he remembered too well,

Chapter Fifty: Alli – He Comes to the DoorAlli’s POVShe hadn’t turned the porch light off yet. The house still smelled like lemon cleaner and the familiar comfort of old wood, and her nerves still hadn’t settled from the conversation with her son.She hadn’t expected to see Johnny again so soon.Not tonight.Not with her heart still raw and her son asleep down the hall with his daddy’s face.She had just settled into the worn armchair in the living room, a mug of chamomile tea cooling in her hands, when she heard it.A knock.Low. Firm.Twice.Her heart leapt into her throat.She stood slowly, her fingers clenched tightly around the ceramic cup as she walked to the door.She knew who it was.Knew the way her heart stuttered.Knew the way her breath caught in her chest.She opened it anyway.And there he was.Johnny.Leaning against the doorframe, hands in his jacket pockets, eyes impossibly blue beneath the porch light. That same dark T-shirt stretched across his chest, but now he l

Chapter Fifty-Two: Johnny – One WordJohnny’s POVHe hadn’t moved in ten minutes.Alli’s hand was still in his, her head tilted back against the couch cushion, her eyes closed. Not asleep—just quiet. Like the storm inside her had finally calmed enough for her to breathe.Johnny didn’t say a word. He couldn’t.Because if he did, he might break the moment.He might admit how badly he wanted to pull her against him.How he hadn’t stopped loving her for a single day.How it killed him to think about the years he’d missed with the little boy asleep down the hall.His son.The creak of a door broke the silence.Johnny turned his head.Small bare feet padded softly on hardwood. A sleepy figure appeared in the hallway, rubbing one eye, hair mussed up in soft golden curls.John.The boy stopped in the doorway when he saw them.Big blue eyes blinked slowly as he processed what he was seeing—his mama on the couch, holding hands with a man he barely knew but couldn’t stop staring at.Johnny sat u