The Tailgate: An Original Short Story

by Elin Hilderbrand

A stirring portrait of a relationship at a crossroads, this digital original short story follows two irresistible young lovers as they cope with college life, and invites us into a world we don't want to leave.

Clendenin Hughes first kissed Dabney Kimball during a Nantucket snowstorm freshman year of high school. Ever since that moment - God, the rush, the chemistry! - Dabney has known that she and Clen are an unsplittable unit - essentially the same person in two different bodies.

Of course, with Dabney now at Harvard and Clen at Yale, those bodies are 140 miles apart. And traveling is a serious challenge for Dabney, for reasons she'd prefer not to discuss, reasons having to do with her mother (or lack thereof). But with the big Harvard-Yale game coming up, Dabney is determined to make the trek to New Haven to see Clen. She's even borrowed a sexy black outfit from a classmate down the hall.

But when she arrives at the tailgate to see sparks flying between Clen and Jocelyn, a girl with dark blue eyes and luscious black hair, Dabney fears the collapse of a bond she has never questioned before, a bond so important that she'll be lost without it. To learn the fates of Dabney and Clen, read Elin Hilderbrand's novel, The Matchmaker.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Romance, Audiobook, Short Stories, Beach Reads, Summer

45 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket with her husband and their three young children. She grew up in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and traveled extensively before settling on Nantucket, which has been the setting for her five previous novels. Hilderbrand is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the graduate fiction workshop at the University of Iowa.

Facebook.com/ElinHilderbrand

Pinterest.com/ElinHilderbrand

Reviews

[Cammie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love when favorite authors write short stories to enhance their novels. These extra chapters add to characters' backstories or add onto the future of beloved characters that have become like best friends.

[Roemer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really do not see the point of this short story. Just to make us dislike one of the characters in the matchmaker? And to add to Dabney’s agoraphobia which I feel we already understood? This couldve easily been put at the beginning of that book. I didn’t feel like this added any value whatsoever 🤷‍♀️

[micky :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Welp I def need to read The Matchmaker now cuz I need to know what happens. I loved these characters. I know it’s technically a ‘prequel’ but I liked it without having read the original. But like I need to now cuz what a cliffhanger.

[Maggie61 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories can be enjoyable, this one was only okay for me, way too short. I know it's a little novella as a prequel to "the matchmaker" but it was like reading only the first few chapters of a novel, it didn't go anywhere. It was interesting and well written enough and I really loved the last book of hers I just read so I will definitely be reading "the matchmaker".

[Maggie Cavanaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up

Maybe this is better than a 2.5 but I’m disappointed bc I thought this would be a nice story about Dabney and Clen, I needed some pure love story shit after finishing the Matchmaker, but this was not that and I’m even sadder now. Also, this ended VERY abruptly, even for short story.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. The short story was way too short. It just randomly ended and it didn’t make sense to stop the story where it stopped. I needed some closure!

[Jenny Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Evidently this short was just a teaser for a longer novel in which this girl's crappy boyfriend will presumably attempt to make amends. That might be a decent book, but reading this short story has just about guaranteed I'll never know.

[Laura Skladzinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute short story about Dabney (of The Matchmaker); it was neat to get a glimpse of her hopes and fears in college, but too short to really get into.

[Julie Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a Short story which leads into the book “The Matchmaker”. Guess I will need to see how things end up. The short story was just….okay.

[Bailey Villanueva · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked getting a little more of the story from these characters but this novella was too short for anything to really happen

[Jennifer Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall: 2.3 ⭐️

✨ Am I missing something? I know it’s a short story, but the story wasn’t even completed. I’m so confused. I wanted to know what happened lol
EDIT: after writing this I learned it’s basically a prologue for her next book… The Matchmaker. Still dumb tho LOL

Instagram: @literaltrashbookclub

[Lisa Keegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

short story. "prequel" to Matchmaker

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that there wasn't a tidy little ending!

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute short story - again I wanted it to continue to find out what ultimately happened with the characters.

[Ruth Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun short story. Perfect for an afternoon at the pool or a short road trip.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Literally nothing happened lmao

[Kristeen Eagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I am on am Elin Hinderbrand kick!

[Emily Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

it’s giving Rory and Logan in a sense…. little short story to help reach my goal!

[Amanda Berghof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice easy ready.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure I like these characters, but I’ll bite and read the book that this is a prequel for.

[Keira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this for what it was!

[Sarah Keller · Rating 1 out of 5]

12/19: Update. I read The Matchmaker. Two stars. So annoyed by it. Longer review under that book.
11/29: I thought I’d read this short story prequel while waiting for The Matchmaker on my Libby holds. I can’t even rate it because it was SO short. Maybe I’ll see the point after I read The Matchmaker, but right now, I honestly don’t think this was even necessary.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Dabney & Clen’s relationship. This was a prequel for Elin’s Matchmaker so I am I Interested in how this unfolds.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to truly give this a rating since it's a short story/prequel, but I really wish I read/listened to this before reading The Matchmaker. It explained everything that I felt was missing in the book, and probably would've made my rating of The Matchmaker a little higher.

It totally changed my perspective of Clendenin and his relationship with Dabney. It also gave much-needed additional background to Dabney's phobia.

A side note: Elin Hilderbrand wrote that Dabney didn't know what to call males age 18-22 because they're not boys but also not men, and I very much relate to that.

[Becky Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Matchmaker over a year ago, but I'm trying to read all of Hilderbrand's books. I'm confussed and maybe this was addressed in the Matchmaker and I forgot... Clen is Agnes' father. The end of The Tailgate sounds like Dabney storms off and is finished with him. Do we just suppose that she really doesn't leave him like the ending eluded to?

[Melissa Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good short story! Maybe because I could relate to it so much. My freshman college year my boyfriend and I went to different colleges - about the same distance apart! FSU / UCF --- one time when I visited him I had a similar "gut feeling" about a girl in his quad. I'm still not sure if they had a thing as he transferred to be with me the next year -- but I could totally relate to this story!!

[howsweeteats · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super quick read as a short story prequel should be, but this has me SO EXCITED for the Matchmaker! I didn't love Beautiful Day as much as I've loved her other books in the past, so this has me psyched up for something special. Totally my type of read. Mushy lost love romance.

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story was hard to get into. It was an ok read, not great.

[Shannon Matzen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn’t really sure how to rate this one since it wasn’t a very impactful short story to set you up for The Matchmaker. Going into The Matchmaker, I hope we learn more about the MCs past

[Shelly Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very short story, about 40 pages long, and it’s a great lead up to the next book, “The Matchmaker”. This introduces you to some main characters of that book giving you a little look into what went wrong way back in the day.
Clendenin (another whopper of a name, whatever happened to names like Adam or Steve) Hughes kissed Dabney (and again?) Kimball during a snowstorm in Nantucket in freshman year of high school. Dabney has known from that moment on that she and Clen were meant to be together.
Now, Dabney is off to Harvard and Clen to Yale. 140 miles apart and ever since something happened with her mother, Dabney has found traveling a big challenge. However, there is a big Harvard-Yale game coming up and she is determined to make the trip to see Clen.
When she arrives, though, she notices a spark between Clen and a girl named Jocelyn. Dabney fears that as those two are drawn closer she and Clen may have a real test of fate to confront.
I really don’t want to tell you the whole story because it’s so short but it’s good. If you know the author you know how the story will likely play out but it’s so worth reading to get to know these characters. I haven’t read “The Matchmaker” just yet, starting it when I finish this review, but I know that this comes well before that one giving you the story of these two characters.
I liked this and look forward to the next.