No Job Offer, but Email about "Next Steps" from a potential employer - is this good?

Hi, I applied for a position during the second week of March, had an interview with the hiring manager and tour (during which the hiring manager said, verbatim, "I like you!" I was invited to a second interview) during the third week of March, and a final round of interviews 2.5 weeks ago.

The final series of interviews included an interview with the CIO during which I was asked about salary, provided salary expectations, and was told those expectations were in alignment with the company. CIO also said he liked to hire English majors - and I have an English major. The third and final interviewer told me to expect a call from the hiring manager on the same day, and I did receive a call within two hours that said that they were very interested but that the CIO would be out of the country on vacation for the next two weeks, so a decision could not be made.

Fast forward two weeks, and I sent a check-in email this morning to the hiring manager. I get a response within 20 minutes (responses to all of my emails have been within 20 minutes), and am told that the CIO is out of town until this Thursday and that the hiring manager will have an "answer later this week on next steps."

I meet/exceed the qualifications asked for this position, am a (very) local candidate, and in my check-in email to the hiring manager was able to provide evidence that I had, in the two weeks, trained myself and made a demo with the leading software that would be used in the position. Her response was "That’s good to hear." Also, they are looking to hire up to three individuals for this position.

I will, of course, wait to be contacted by the hiring manager - I will not do any further check-in emails.

Should I be feeling good (but not cocky) about this? Is this potentially a situation where they need the CIO's physical signature on compensation documentation before they can make an offer, but they have internally decided to hire me?

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