One lug seat was badly scarred.
Another showed signs of cross-threading.
The wheel had not simply developed a random flat.
It had been mounted incorrectly.
Possibly overtightened unevenly.
The tire had likely lost seal after the rim shifted under vibration.
Vivienne saw his face.
“What?”
“Who serviced this recently?”
“A garage in Millbrook.”
Caleb stopped.
“Which one?”
“Calloway something.”
Of course.
“When?”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
“What did they do?”
“Winter tires.”
Caleb looked at the wheel again.
His jaw tightened.
Vivienne noticed.
“You know them.”
“Yes.”
“Is something wrong?”
He chose his words carefully.
“The wheel wasn’t installed correctly.”
Her face changed.
“Dangerous?”
“It could have become dangerous.”
“Could the wheel have come off?”
“Eventually.”
Vivienne went pale.
Caleb regretted bluntness.
“But it didn’t.”
“You’re here.”
“We’re fixing it.”
She folded her arms tighter.
“I paid them almost two thousand dollars yesterday.”
Caleb looked up.
“For tires?”
“And ‘winter preparation.’”
He almost asked for invoice.
Stopped.
Not his business.
He mounted the spare.
Tightened the lugs properly.
Then lowered the vehicle.
Fifteen minutes.
His hands were nearly numb.
Vivienne stood holding several hundred-dollar bills.
Caleb saw.
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“Please.”
“No.”
“You drove through a blizzard.”
“I was working already.”
“This is work.”
“You called because stranded.”
“And you fixed it.”
She held out the money.
“I can afford it.”
“That isn’t the issue.”
“Then what is?”
Caleb put the tools back into his truck.
“I didn’t stop because I needed paying.”
“That makes no sense.”
He closed the toolbox.
“It does to me.”
Vivienne looked down at the bills.
“Why did you stop?”
Caleb wiped snow from his gloves.
He thought about Sofia.
About Marisol.
About the six years since he had watched people pass others on roads and tell themselves somebody else would help.
Then:
“Because you needed help.”
“And I was here.”
Vivienne’s face changed.
Something about that answer hurt her.
Not badly.
Deeply.
She closed her fingers around the money.
Caleb handed her the damaged lug nut he had removed.
“Keep this.”
“What for?”
“If you take the car back to the garage, show them.”
“Tell them the wheel was improperly installed.”
Vivienne stared at the metal.
“Will they admit it?”
Caleb looked toward the snowfall.
“Depends who you ask.”
She studied him.
“You really don’t want anything?”
“No.”