CHAPTER SIXTY TWO – A PART OF THE INSTITUTE

As she entered the apartment, Vito looked up from his laptop, his face breaking into a warm smile. "Hey, you're back! How'd it go?" Joan sighed, kicking off her heels. "It was... educational." Vito's brow furrowed with concern. "That doesn't sound promising. Want to talk about it?" She nodded, sinking onto the couch beside him. As she recounted the evening's events, Vito listened attentively, offering sympathetic nods and reassuring squeezes of her hand. "I'm sorry it was so tough," he said when she'd finished. "But I'm proud of you for putting yourself out there. That takes courage." Joan leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thanks. I just wish I'd made more of an impact, you know?" Vito wrapped an arm around her. "Hey, you never know what seeds you might have planted tonight. Sometimes these things take time to bear fruit." As they sat there in comfortable silence, Joan felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out, expecting a text from Tim or her dad asking about the eve