diff --git a/src/superlocalmemory/storage/database.py b/src/superlocalmemory/storage/database.py
index 96190c11..2d6e864e 100644
--- a/src/superlocalmemory/storage/database.py
+++ b/src/superlocalmemory/storage/database.py
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ def __init__(self, db_path: str | Path) -> None:
     def _enable_wal(self) -> None:
         conn = sqlite3.connect(str(self.db_path))
         try:
+            conn.execute(f"PRAGMA busy_timeout={_BUSY_TIMEOUT_MS}")  # FIRST — so WAL pragma below uses configured timeout
             conn.execute("PRAGMA journal_mode=WAL")
-            conn.execute(f"PRAGMA busy_timeout={_BUSY_TIMEOUT_MS}")
             conn.execute("PRAGMA foreign_keys=ON")
             conn.commit()
         finally:
diff --git a/tests/test_storage/test_database.py b/tests/test_storage/test_database.py
index 5d751fb2..dd37166a 100644
--- a/tests/test_storage/test_database.py
+++ b/tests/test_storage/test_database.py
@@ -459,3 +459,21 @@ def test_list_tables(self, db: DatabaseManager) -> None:
         assert "memories" in tables
         assert "atomic_facts" in tables
         assert "canonical_entities" in tables
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# WAL PRAGMA ordering
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+class TestEnableWal:
+    def test_enable_wal_sets_busy_timeout(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+        """_enable_wal() sets busy_timeout so subsequent connections inherit WAL mode safely."""
+        db_path = tmp_path / "test.db"
+        db = DatabaseManager(db_path)
+        db.initialize(__import__("superlocalmemory.storage.schema", fromlist=["schema"]))
+        # Verify busy_timeout is correctly configured on DatabaseManager-managed connections
+        timeout = db.execute("PRAGMA busy_timeout")[0][0]
+        assert timeout == 10000, f"Expected busy_timeout=10000, got {timeout}"
+        # Verify WAL mode is active
+        journal = db.execute("PRAGMA journal_mode")[0][0]
+        assert journal.lower() == "wal", f"Expected wal, got {journal}"