Just what I thought. Thanks SuchIrony. BTW: It's not fair when you do the PUER thing! You must prefer incognito.
Not that this will help illuminate the context or body language, but it was all strange: the mood, the dialogue - the body language less so (I read body language really well). He was acting a bit atypical - very, very cool, very controlled, then he let out a smug smile when I started getting uncomfortable as if he was enjoying seeing me squirm (I sounded like an idiot discussing how I missed him). He seemed to think this was funny (I guess?) It seemed sadistic. But, he's not that kind of person. So it got me wondering - what is he hiding from me? "I really like you a lot" can me just simply mean "I really like you a lot" or something else - "I love you", "I'm attracted to you", "I don't want to hurt your feelings so I'm telling you this..." , "I'm falling for you", "I more than just like you - you're an important part of my life." I don't want to ask him because he's an INFP - and I don't want to push him to reveal his feelings for me until he's ready. Although I don't know exactly what he meant by the phrase, I was glad to hear it. I now know he feels something for me which I had suspected - although it was expressed only nonverbally which is open to even more interpretation. Now the cat's out of the bag, so to speak.