Everything Has Changed //Ryan Blaney//

4.1 - Accident

Sienna

"Eleanor, please be careful. You almost fell." My warning didn't seem to faze her. I don't know how many times I had told her that in an hour. She was riding her bike on the gravel driveway and going a little too fast for my liking. Her daddy and Chase decided to take the training wheels off for her the other day, and now that she knows how to ride without them, she thinks she's invincible. 

"Mommy, I'm okay." She grinned, showing me with a wide grin how well she was doing.

That was the response, but when she got close to me, she would wobble, having a hard time grabbing the brakes. I let it go, knowing that she was beginning to be as hard-headed as Ryan is. She had been spending so much time with him since her school year had started a couple of weeks ago. It seemed like I had to pry her away from his side to even get her to take a bath before bed.

Last week, when we were at Dover, she made sure to sit in the pit box, even after I had told her we didn't want to be in the way. Then, when Ryan's day had been cut short, she tried her hardest to be right with him before he gave his final interview. 

I didn't know what was wrong, but it just seemed like Ryan had become her favorite parent, and she was trying her best to avoid me. Or at least that's what my irrational thoughts liked to tell me. Thinking of it again had my heart hurting and my eyes burning with emotion. I didn't like to cry because of it because I knew it wasn't true, but I couldn't get the thoughts to go away. 

Turning away for a split second to wipe at my eyes, I hadn't even heard Eleanor yelling at me; listening to my head instead of what was going on. When I did hear her, it was already too late. She had started taking the spill on her bike, sending herself and the metal ride into my front legs. Forgetting about myself, I instinctively tried to grab her so she wouldn't get hurt. That only caused me to hit the gravel harder with all of her weight on top of me. My head and back landed on the rocks, and the bike landed on my legs.

Trying to move past the pain in my head, I immediately looked over to El. Hot tears were rolling down her red face before she let out a wail of a scream. Panic set in as I tried to find what was wrong. 

"Where does it hurt, baby? Show mommy." She stuck her face into my chest, crying even louder. Frantically, I searched her body, seeing her knees scraped and blood pooling in them. Then I spotted it. The indent in her arm was a surefire clue. Oh, I hope it was an easy break.

Kicking the bike off of me, I tried my best to get up off the ground without hurting her more. I stumbled a bit once getting to my feet, but I shook it off. I was more worried about El than myself. Thankfully, she had her helmet and pads on to lessen her injuries, but after this, I was going to be putting her in bubble wrap when she was better.

 Of course, she would take the clumsy aspect from me.

"Let's get you to the truck, baby. I'm going inside to get my keys and an ice pack for your arm."

Ryan

It had been a pretty overloaded day in the office. Tim was sitting us down to talk about how we were going to work together this weekend at Talladega. There was a lot we were trying to go over with who we thought would work well to work with. I immediately said not to work with Ricky because I wanted to make it to the end. He was a hell of a pusher, but sometimes that pushing put you into the wall with everyone flying right at you.