diff --git a/salt/soc/files/bin/salt-relay.sh b/salt/soc/files/bin/salt-relay.sh
index 783018b3a..4b183b20a 100755
--- a/salt/soc/files/bin/salt-relay.sh
+++ b/salt/soc/files/bin/salt-relay.sh
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ function poll() {
 
 function respond() {
   file="$QUEUE_DIR/$1.response"
-  tmpfile=${file}.tmp
+  tmpfile="${file}.tmp"
   response=$2
 
   touch "$tmpfile"