that nude body painting on anna maria island?that here. >> reporter: but sabine did what had to be done. it can be a tough business running and promoting a little old motel. debts are fat, margins thin. and with the economy beginning to tank in 2008, what once was sunny and light was gray with worry. sabine and tom were in trouble. neighbor barbara hines -- >> the real estate market had folded. i know from sabine, not from tom, that they were highly, highly, highly leveraged. >> please call me for your reservation. >> reporter: and while sabine used her marketing skills to try to keep the motel afloat, she and tom couldn't do the same for their marriage. after more than a decade as husband and wife, they were that in name only. but what they did not do was divorce or divide up the business. >> they were always still good friends, very good friends. i mean they worked well together. >> reporter: romance part, the marriage part seemed to what? >> the romance part kind of -- >> maybe romance changed. >> reporter: it certainly did. a