5. Cora
CORA
I let out a frustrated breath as I made my way through Midtown. What the hell did I have to be nervous about?
Elixir had been determined to work with me.
Or, at least, the Masked Mixer. I wasn’t the one who needed to prove myself here.
All I had to do was complete the contract, collect my paycheck, and use the hopefully decent lab to film a bunch of fresh content.
Elixir was the one who had to impress me.
I stood before the building, glancing up where the roof disappeared into the clouds.
Time to see if Allie’s claims turned out to be true.
After checking in at the reception desk on the ground floor, I took the elevator up to the reception area for Elixir.
Their corporate offices occupied several floors at the top of the shared office tower.
I was immediately taken aback as I stepped into the lobby.
It was a perfect blend of modern luxury and technical innovation with soaring ceilings, a sculpted metal chandelier, and pristine marble floors.
Large glass display cases showcased Elixir’s finest liquor.
At the back of the lobby stood a reception desk with a high-definition screen mounted on the wall displaying the company’s history.
A plush seating area to the left featured curated books on the distillation process and magazines with Aiden’s face on them.
I snorted. Of course he wanted his face front and center in the lobby.
I was surprised he didn’t have a framed portrait of himself mounted on the wall. He probably saved that for his office.
Still, despite the company being ten years old, everything still looked sleek and shiny and new. The space even smelled nice. And that was more annoying.
I didn’t want to like it here.
It’s only the lobby, I reminded myself.
“Hi there. Can I help you?” a woman called from the reception desk. She was young and stylish, with a bright smile.
I darted forward. “Yes, hi. I’m Cora Newport. It’s my first day and—”
“—you’re wondering where you’re supposed to be?”
I chuckled. “Exactly that.”
She nodded and picked up the phone on her desk, pressing it to her ear. “Give me one second,” she whispered, waiting for the call to connect. “We’ll get you sorted out…Yes!” she said suddenly. “Ms. Newport is here.”
Ms. Newport? The nerves sparked to life in my gut again.
It was hard not to feel intimidated. I had confidence in myself and my skills, but I also had zero experience in the corporate world.
College hadn’t been an option for me financially, after all my family went through.
Bartending was a job I fell into and ended up loving.
But an office job? I’d never had one of those before.
And now, here I was—working for a man and a company I never could have imagined working for in a million years.
“Janine’s coming up to get you,” the receptionist told me.
“Janine,” I said. “Right. Thanks for your help.”
“No problem. Feel free to have a seat,” she said, gesturing to the nearest chair.
I didn’t, instead wandering between the display shelves. An elevator door opened a few minutes later, and someone who must have been Janine appeared, walking toward me with her arm outstretched. “Cora, hi. Janine Thomas from HR.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said. She had the most incredible pair of red-framed cat-eye glasses.
“Okay, I think I’ve mostly got you sorted for your first day.” She patted a laptop bag hanging from her shoulder. “I’ve got your access pass here, a company laptop for you to keep any product notes in, and your complimentary bottle of Elixir.”
I frowned as she passed me the laptop bag. “Does everyone get a complimentary bottle of Elixir?”
“Not a tenth anniversary bottle.” She leaned close, like we were sharing a secret. “The CEO himself brought it down for you. Isn’t that sweet?”
I bit my tongue to keep from saying something inappropriate. “Sweet” wasn’t the word I’d use. This was Aiden being petty after what happened at the bar. He knew I really had no choice but to accept the bottle now since I was working for Elixir.
“If you’ll follow me,” Janine carried on, “I’ll take you through the onboarding process.”
She set off across the lobby, and I hurried after her.
Our first stop was her office where we handled all the paperwork—reviewing policies and procedures, signing up for insurance and a 401K.
Across the hall, Janine took me through IT setup where I received my login info in order to access the necessary internal systems.
“Time for the official tour,” she said at last. We caught the elevator up to another floor where we toured through Sales and Distribution followed by Marketing and Branding.
There was an entire corridor lined with displays showcasing Elixir’s prestigious awards and more bottles.
Janine introduced me to an endless line of people whose names I wouldn’t be able to keep straight even if my life depended on it.
There was also a tasting room, a large cafeteria I would check out at lunch, and a plethora of executive office suites.
“On to Research and Development,” Janine said, hitting another button in the elevator. “That’s where you’ll spend most of your time.”
“Is that where the lab is?”
“You bet.”
“I keep hearing big things about this lab.” I hated to admit I was impressed so far, but I was really waiting to be wowed.
Janine smiled, and the elevator opened to a floor bustling with activity. It immediately reminded me of a beehive.
“Cora!”
I turned at the sound of my name, grinning as I spotted a familiar face. “Allie!”
She walked over. “I see Janine’s got you started on the tour. All finished with the mandatory stuff?”
“She means the boring stuff,” Janine stage-whispered to me. “And yes. She’s all yours.”
“Perfect.” Janine headed off, and Allie steered me into the chaos. “I thought I’d pop by to introduce you to the team you’ll be working with myself.”
“That’d be great.”
She led me past rooms filled with sleek, stainless steel workstations and equipment. There were technicians clad in lab coats bent over experiments.
“We obviously have multiple projects running at once,” Allie said. “To enhance flavors, refine production processes. All that good stuff. We’ve got tanks where different blends are monitored and tested for optimal taste profiles.”
The air smelled of fermenting spirits, and the hum of analytical instruments reached my ears. The buzz of excitement replaced the nerves in my gut.
“But this is where you’ll be working,” she said as we turned a corner, entering a large room. Off to one side was a conference table, the wall adorned with charts and graphs and tasting notes. “Morning, team.”
A group of people whirled around as Allie stepped forward, introducing me.
“I’d like you all to meet Cora Newport. You might better know her as the Masked Mixer. Cora, these are your product developers.” She started pointing out the team. “You’ve got Dorothy.”
“Call me Dot,” a petite, young woman said, rushing over, practically squealing. She latched onto my hand with both of hers. “Big fan. I mean, like massive. I’ve watched all your videos at least a dozen times. Maybe more than a dozen.”
“Rein it in, Dotty,” a man said, patting her on the shoulders. “Hey, I’m Javeed.” His smile was polite, but a little cool. I got the sense that I’d have to prove myself to him before I could win him over.
“And you’ve got Chris over there,” Allie said, pointing out a man wearing a massive pair of headphones. He had his back to us, hunched over the conference table, furiously writing in a notebook.
“He’s in the zone,” Javeed said, indicating the headphones.
“He is not to be disturbed when he’s in the zone,” Dot whispered.
Something must have caught his attention, because Chris looked over, his eyes widening, and he whipped off the headphones. “Was no one going to tell me she’d arrived?”
“You were in the zone,” Javeed said, making air quotations with his fingers.
“The zone can be disturbed for this.”
“Oh, sure,” Dot said, “but when the fire alarm is going off, it’s all, ‘Don’t bug me, it’s probably just a drill.’”
“Well, statistically, it most likely is a drill,” Chris reasoned, coming over to join us.
“Now that introductions are out of the way,” Allie said, nudging my shoulder. “I guess you’ll want to see that state-of-the-art lab I promised you.”
I laughed. “I’m worried I’ve built it up too much in my head.”
“Only one way to find out,” she said, grinning. Dot, Javeed, and Chris led the way.
I followed them into the lab, and my jaw dropped.
I was glad Aiden wasn’t around. I wasn’t sure I could have concealed my reaction, and he would have been a smug bastard about it.
Everywhere I looked, there were more of those stainless steel workstations and high-tech fermentation chambers and precision-controlled distillation columns.
“The fermentation chambers are temperature and humidity controlled,” Javeed said.
“We’ve also got a sensory evaluation area,” Chris said, pointing out two climate-controlled booths. “So tasters can assess the aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel of new spirits we’re working on.”
I peeked in. Booths like these were usually equipped with specialized glassware and lighting so tasters could detect subtle nuances and product characteristics. I turned around, coming face to face with a glass-enclosed room, offering a panoramic view of the lab.
“That’s for the tours,” Dot said. “Sometimes the big-wigs like to see us in action. But I think you’ll like this the best.” She waved me toward a stainless steel door. “We call this the pantry.”
She swung the door open, revealing a walk-in room stocked with ingredients. A soft sound of delight escaped before I could stop it. There were shelves upon shelves of mixology supplies—liquor, flavored syrups, bitters and extracts, garnishes, spices, and all the bases and mixers I could imagine.