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again.
    She had hoped that Becca was done.  No such luck.  It seemed she had only paused long enough to allow what she was saying to sink in.
    “Toreas, you’re an adult, not a three-year-old. You should know how to control your temper.”
    “I thought it was only in fiction that people can be perfectly controlled,” Toreas answered.  “I thought a real person is allowed to be imperfect.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    Toreas watched as one by one Becca froze them all with a glare, and then sat back in her seat.
    Okay, she had to stop being childish. It wasn’t fair to try and blame her friends for not supporting her when what’d she’d done was affecting all of them.  They were a great bunch of women and she was lucky to have them as part of her support system.
    Only right now she could feel her support giving way as though it had been built on sand, and she didn’t like the feeling.
    She was aware of what they all wanted her to do.  It seemed a simple enough thing, to go back on the show and tell Jared Stone she was wrong.  If it would end there, maybe, just maybe, she would consider it.
    But she doubted that had ever been Jared’s intention and now that he’d gotten national attention, there was no way he was going to let her off with a simple apology.
    Toreas licked her lips, eyeing the huge bottle of water that Lauren brought with her to each meeting and wishing she could have a drop.
    There wasn’t even any spit in her mouth.  How the heck could she go back on television when she couldn’t even talk to her group?
    She cleared her throat several times and sighed loudly.  “I can’t go back, he would crucify me.  I couldn’t even talk when I was there.”
    Liz glanced over at her.  “She’s right, Becca.  When you see the tape you’ll see she sat glued to her seat, scared to death.”
    “Yeah, she couldn’t even name our group or tell him what it stands for. The most basic things she couldn’t even answer. It was pretty disgusting.”
    Thanks a lot, Wendy.  Was that supposed to be support ?  Toreas wanted more than anything to glare at Wendy, but for now she decided to let it go. 
    Now not only was her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth  but it seemed her butt was glued to the chair. She wiggled trying to get comfortable, wanting something to drink.  She eyed Lauren’s water again.  She didn’t feel her legs would carry her to the fountain in the hall. God, what she wouldn’t give for a drink right now.
    “Can’t you just write him a note?”
    Elysa was staring at her with something akin to contempt.  Toreas stared back.  “I supposed I could.  What would I say?”
    “You’re a writer, use your imagination.”
    Becca turned in her direction. “It’s agreed then. You’ll write the man a note and get him off our backs.”
    “I’ll write the note, but remember, he was on our backs before any of this happened.”
    One after the other she could feel rather than see the women looking at her, thinking that if she just wrote the note the problem would go away.
    Fine , she thought . I’ll write the darn note. Then they’ll see it won’t matter . They were still looking at her. She kept forgetting people couldn’t read her mind. “Okay, I’ll write the note.”
    “Now that that’s settled we’ll move along with the business portion of our meeting.”
    Becca appeared pacified for the moment and was now smiling her usual cheery smile.  Toreas had no idea what the meeting was about.  She only knew she felt backed into a corner.
    Her only support had come from her friend calling her a coward. At least it was better than Wendy practically calling her stupid and Toreas was still smarting over that comment.  When the rustle of bodies and chairs being shoved back caught her attention, she knew the meeting was over.
    “So are you coming with us to the restaurant?”
    It was Lauren.  Toreas looked at her and at the partially empty bottle of water that was now