Oh my, I feel confused about the OP's story and his wife. But let me share my own really really stupid "run out of gas" story. Hope it takes some heat off the OP and I'll take some flaming... I can laugh now, years later.
About five years ago I took my girlfriend on a romantic weekend spontaneous drive to remote areas for some sightseeing. We both had to work Monday, so had to be back; she was starting a new job. Long story short, we drove for hours all around and had a lovely time. But I grossly underestimated range and distances between gas stations on our return trip. At one point I could have filled up but the station's prices were twice the normal price, so I decided to wait until the next station. HUGE mistake. Always fill up in such situations. We had no cellular reception. We had hours to drive home, and it was already 9-10pm.
I was distracted for a long time, but looked at the gas gauge and it read 1/8th tank. My GPS said there was no gas station for a distance far greater than the remaining fuel. We were probably 100-200 miles from any civilization. It was dire. She was able to search and search and found a station 20 miles in the opposite direction so we took a gamble on time and distance in the wrong way. We arrived and the station was long-ago out of business. The situation was very very bad. There's just no way for a rescue allowing time for us to get back and to work on time at that point.
She was panicking. I was remaining cool on the outside but panicked on the inside, saying prayers. I am not making this up, we were driving on probably 1% remaining fuel, and it was now 10:55pm. We drove past an unmarked miracle gas station that was just about to close at 11pm! I had to do a fast U-turn and get there. I ran in, prepaid, and filled up. It was an absolute miracle to fill up. As we left they were turning off the lights and closing for the night. A miracle to get there.
We got back around 2am, exhausted, and immediately went to bed. She woke me up at 5am, saying HER car was out of gas and she needed help. She had this habit of turning her car on and letting it warm up while she got ready, and it ran empty. But on this occasion, she moved her car behind mine in my garage so she could keep a better watch on it! So at 5am, with her rushing to get to her 1st day, she was out of gas, blocking me in. I had no extra gas in any cans.
I said I'd push her out of the way. She put it in neutral and I moved it about 2' but could not push it further. I looked at her tires and noticed that in her haste, she dropped her purse which slide right behind the rear tire! I had rolled her car onto the purse, crushing a bunch of stuff and busting a bottle of water! We moved the purse, moved the car, and I drove took a gas can to the station and returned to fill her tank and she somehow made it to work on time.
CRAZY NIGHT/MORNING!