questions from the book 'people we meet on vacation'

1. I like how he always sits like this when we're out together: his upper body facing the bar, his long legs facing me, like he's keeping some secret door to himself open just for me. [And not a door only to the reserved], never-quite-fully-smiling Alex Nilsen that the rest of the world gets, but a path straight to the weirdo. - page 15 -

-> Isn't that has to be 'And a door only to the reserved'? Even limited to reserved? Then who gains access?

2. When you have a job where you're only required to come into the office once a week, it's not ideal to zone out like a kid in algebra for 50% of that time, even less so to do it in front of your [equal parts] terrifying and inspiring boss. - page 22 -

-> What's equal parts here mean?

3. Ideas for stories about unfamiliar festivals in other countries, locally famous restaurants with [colloquial] deep-fried desserts, ~~~ - page 22-

-> What's colloquial here mean?

4. His face has gone as bright as the beret, and though [I didn't think Swapna had meant it to be anything but funny], he'd never quite recovered his confidence since then. - page 24 -

-> I couldn't get why it means that way. Looked at the translated book, ran deepl, they all said '[] = I didn't think Swapna meant it as a joke'. Why is that?

5. A shot of her reclind on her velvet sofa, laden in bulldogs with [matching scars from their matching lifesaving snout surgeries]. - page 30 -

-> I get what matching scars mean, but matching lifesaving ~~~? Care to explain?

6. "She was being a therapist when she said this," RAchel argues, [by which] ~~~ - page 31 -

-> why it has to be 'by' which?