RSpec - failing test unless local variable is called from pry point

I have the following code:

## teams_controller.rb

def destroy
  ActiveRecord::Base.transaction do
    team_admins = team.team_admins
    binding.pry
    team.destroy!
    team_admins.each(&:update_team_admin_role_if_needed!)
  end

  respond_with_200(team, serializer: V1::User::Management::TeamSerializer)
end

And the corresponding spec to ensure the last line of the above code fires:

## teams_controller_spec.rb

it 'demotes team admins to employees when needed' do
  team_admin_account = create(:account)
  admin_team_membership = create(:team_membership, team: @team, admin: true, account: team_admin_account)
  team_admin_account.update!(role: Role.team_admin)

  expect { process_destroy(team_id: @team.slug) }
    .to change { team_admin_account.reload.role }
    .from(Role.team_admin)
    .to(Role.employee)
end

When I use the above code in my application it works as expected, however the spec fails as the account apparently never has their role updated:

 expected `team_admin_account.reload.role` to have changed from #<Role id: 4, add_to_first_user_in_organisation: false, title: "Team admin", created_at: "2020-01-03 09:04:28", updated_at: "2020-01-03 09:04:28", management: false, cms_access: false> to #<Role id: 3, add_to_first_user_in_organisation: false, title: "Employee", created_at: "2020-01-03 09:04:28", updated_at: "2020-01-03 09:04:28", management: false, cms_access: false>, but did not change

When I hit the pry point in my spec and quit out straight away, the spec fails. Likewise when there is no pry point.

However when I enter team_admins at the pry point (which returns the one team_admin I create in my spec) and then quit out of the spec, the spec passes and the account has their role updated.

Anyone have any idea why manually calling team_admins makes my spec pass?

Thanks in advance

EDIT:

The following change to the code also makes the spec pass:

def destroy
  ActiveRecord::Base.transaction do
    team_admins = team.team_admins
    puts team_admins                        ## <---- Adding this makes the spec pass
    team.destroy!
    team_admins.each(&:update_team_admin_role_if_needed!)
  end

  respond_with_200(team, serializer: V1::User::Management::TeamSerializer)
end

team_admins is an AssociationRelation from team. This does not execute a query until referenced, such as with each or puts.

team.destroy! is called before team_admins.each is called. So when team_admins.each executes there is no more team and thus no team_admins. You should be able to verify this by watching logs/test.log and looking at the queries and when they are executed.

Congratulations, you've found a bug. Execute team_admins.each before destroying team.