diff --git a/store/posixage/internal/flock/flock.go b/store/posixage/internal/flock/flock.go
index 80da3bb8..5b805bf1 100644
--- a/store/posixage/internal/flock/flock.go
+++ b/store/posixage/internal/flock/flock.go
@@ -89,7 +89,8 @@ func tryLock(ctx context.Context, root *os.Root, exclusive bool) (UnlockFunc, er
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	// recovery was successful. Let's try get another lock one last time.
-	if err := retryLock(ctx, fl, exclusive); err != nil {
+	err = retryLock(ctx, fl, exclusive)
+	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}