diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.svelte.ts b/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.svelte.ts
index d5ba1290ca..30a3478fb3 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.svelte.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.svelte.ts
@@ -412,6 +412,7 @@ class Entry<V> {
 			let rowsAtRead = 0
 			let valuesAtRead = 0
 			let unbasedPending = false
+			let refusedBefore = false
 			let waitingBefore: unknown | undefined
 			let res: ItemLoad<V>
 			try {
@@ -423,6 +424,8 @@ class Entry<V> {
 				// would go out unconditional and take over a row created since. The read below
 				// gives it one, and `pending` keeps showing it meanwhile.
 				unbasedPending = this.ports.unbased(key)
+				// Whether the server had already refused this key before this read went near it.
+				refusedBefore = this.ports.conflicted(key)
 				if (!unbasedPending) await this.ports.flush(key)
 				// Taken here, not when the command was asked for: rows this read's own flush sent
 				// are in the response it is about to get. Only one handed over from now on, while
@@ -472,7 +475,10 @@ class Entry<V> {
 			// A row the syncer took but could not send is newer than this response and is the only
 			// copy of that edit, so the item opens on it. One the server *refused* is the other
 			// way round — the response is what won — and `adoptRow` drops it below.
-			const unsent = this.ports.conflicted(key) ? undefined : waitingBefore
+			// A payload the server refused *before* this read is stale: the response is what won.
+			// One refused by this read's own retry is not — it is the user's unsent edit, and the
+			// only copy of it, so it stays on screen with the conflict for them to settle.
+			const unsent = refusedBefore ? undefined : waitingBefore
 			// A parked delete is what this tab wants gone, not what is there: the row is still the
 			// server's, so the reconcile at the end re-issues the delete instead of believing it
 			// landed and leaving the draft behind with nothing to remove it.
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.test.ts b/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.test.ts
index 0899fa69a8..ec6e60fe5e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.test.ts
@@ -2051,6 +2051,40 @@ describe('item store: conflicts', () => {
 		expect(rows.sent.get('u/me/r')).toBeNull()
 	})
 
+	it('keeps the failed edit its own reopening retry got refused', async () => {
+		const rows = fakeRows()
+		const store = createItemStore(rows.port)
+		const key: ItemKey = { workspace: 'w', kind: 'resource', path: 'u/me/r' }
+		const a = adapter(async () => ({
+			deployed: deployedRes,
+			draft: rows.sent.get('u/me/r') as Res | undefined,
+			draftSavedAt: 'T1'
+		}))
+		// A draft exists, so this key has a baseline and its autosave is not unconditional.
+		rows.sent.set('u/me/r', { ...deployedRes, description: 'the first draft' })
+		const first = store.acquire(key, { workspace: 'w', path: 'u/me/r' }, a)
+		await settle()
+		rows.failing.add('u/me/r')
+		const mine = { ...deployedRes, description: 'mine, never sent' }
+		first.handle.value = mine
+		await rows.port.flush(key)
+		first.release()
+
+		// Another tab writes a newer draft, and this tab's network recovers. Reopening retries
+		// the parked edit before reading, and that retry is what the server refuses.
+		rows.sent.set('u/me/r', { ...deployedRes, description: 'the other tab' })
+		rows.failing.delete('u/me/r')
+		rows.conflictOnFlush.add('u/me/r')
+
+		const second = store.acquire(key, { workspace: 'w', path: 'u/me/r' }, a)
+		await settle()
+
+		// That edit is the only copy anyone has. Dropping it for the remote draft and clearing
+		// the conflict on the way past would lose it with nothing said.
+		expect(second.handle.value).toEqual(mine)
+		expect(second.handle.status).toBe('conflicted')
+	})
+
 	it('opens a conflicted item afresh, past the payload the server refused', async () => {
 		const rows = fakeRows()
 		const store = createItemStore(rows.port)